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Halloween is right around the corner, and after that, gingerbread season!
I created this creepy little dude recently for a gingerbread competition.
While I cannot divulge one of the recipes I used in my process (it isn’t mine to share), I can show a cool breakdown of the steps.
First, I started by making a batch of construction grade gingerbread (recipe here). I rolled it out and used a round cookie cutter to create a bunch of raw gingerbread rounds. Then I baked them on my silpat.
I started stacking the rounds on top of one another with a thin layer of edible tylose glue between each cookie.
I stacked them high enough to be the trunk of my tree.
Then I used the same construction grade gingerbread to roll out some tree limbs. I added thin strands at the top of each branch to make them look like creepy fingers, while still maintaining the overall tree branch look. I placed them over some crinkled up aluminum foil to give them dimension and shape.
I baked the branches over the aluminum foil on my silpat. The fingers burned a little because they cooked faster than the rest of the branches. It actually took me a few tries to get the branches just the way I wanted them. These aren’t even the ones I used.
As for attaching the branches, I actually baked one of my gingerbread rounds thicker than the others. I drilled some holes into the side of the round with my Dremel (best tool for gingerbread!). The holes were just the right size to fit some bucatini pasta.
I drilled matching holes at the ends of each of the branches.
I attached the branches to the side of the tree trunk using tylose glue and bucatini pasta pegs. I snapped off the pieces that were sticking out.
Once all my glue dried, I mixed up a batch of ginger gel (this is the recipe that I don’t own the rights to). Ginger gel is a proprietary product I learned how to make from a former National Gingerbread House Competition 3-Time Grand Prize Winner. Maybe one day she’ll give me permission to divulge her secrets, but today is not that day.
I kneaded the ginger gel and used some tylose glue to apply pieces directly to the gingerbread. I used my trusty Wilton tools to texture the ginger gel before it dried.
I used the texturing method on the whole piece. I even carved in some eyes and a mouth.
Once the ginger gel dried hard, I mixed some of my gel colors with vodka to create a nice dark brown edible paint. I painted the whole tree.
I mixed up some edible black paint and used it to fill in the eye and mouth holes. Then I painted some wafer paper black with candy color and used my leaf hole punch to create a bunch of dead leaves.
As soon as I have photos of the finished product, I’ll post them. I’m super excited about it!
Other Gingerbread and Cake Decorating Posts:
Construction Grade Gingerbread Recipe (for building, not eating)
Gingerbread Recipe (for eating and building)
Reindeer Playing Poker – National Gingerbread House Competition 3rd Place Winner
Santa’s Gingerbread Mountain Chalet
Cardinal Family Christmas – Gingerbread Birdhouse
Gingerbread House Construction Tips
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