Talk to me about gingerbread houses

[iloveholidays]

Keen to try and do one this year so looking for some help...

I've read that Ikea and Lakeland do moulds, is it worth spending the extra on the lakeland one? or get the one from Aldi?

does it need to be gingerbread??? could I just do normal sponge, sorry if stupid question!!!

Anyone who has managed to make the IKEA one - how? I've bought three or four of these over the years and they always snap and fall apart while I'm trying to construct them. My fingers get really badly burned by the boiling sugar glue and then I shout a lot. Not very festive.

I love the look of them and really want to make one but am tempted to give up and buy the small one from John Lewis which is five times the price, but ready made without finger blisters and temper tantrums.

Good question and I should have clarified. If I leave it out for a while it's for decoration purposes only as it probably collects dust - ick! It would still be edible though.

When I've made them for consumption, I've made them a couple of days before Christmas and then just covered at night before being demolished, usually on Boxing Day. As kids we would fight over the pieces of roof as they were always laden with sweets. Looking forward to DS being old enough to help!

To make the Ikea house, forget the boiling sugar, just use royal icing sugar mixed really thickly with water.
One bag is plenty enough for a house (I made 2 houses and decorated them with 1x bag).
Spread a really thick line and another at a right angle, then stick down one side and the back ( the door front has a space and so less to stick which makes it wobbly). Slap on lots of icing for the join, then ahem I used a hair dryer on hot to set the icing quickly...
Then stick down the other long side and then the front.
Leave it to dry out for a while- pit more icing on the inside of the joins to cement it...
PLASTER the top edges with icing and then place both roof sections on- hold in place for a few minutes until they stick, more icing across the top and in any gaps, then let dry again for an hour.
The chimney is the bugger- you have to do it all at once, just put loads of icing on the roof where you want it to go, then put each side on and stick with lots of icing- this involved a LOT of swear words so don't have the Lids around
Leave it to harden up for a few hours, then just go at it with sweets and more icing!

...it is fun, honest

Erm....kids- not lids
Stupid iPhone...

Lots of good advice on here ... will add it do my 'threads I'm watching' list.

Thanks again paleandinteresting that's good to know. Am intending to make three (one for eating, one for a present, and one for display) so need to get my timings right!

Ours lasts for ages, a bit soft after 2 weeks but perfectly edible.

Let me start by saying I haven't ever made a gingerbread house but I came across this last year and it inspired me

This is the video on how to make the icing that will hold it up

This is the video on how she puts it together

And if you want to see how talented this lady is go to 6.15 on the putting it all together video. Stunning decoration.

Thanks for the recipe and advice - can't wait to try this out.