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Say hello to the winner of the 2019 Triangle Family Services Annual Gingerbread Benefit!
I call him “King Gingerbread Nutcracker” and I’m going to show you how to make him. I’m actually super proud of this project because I did it in a week and it was the fastest, easiest project I’ve ever completed. I was totally at peace working on him and that is rare!
I was able to use structural supports, which was part of the reason it was so much easier than the stuff I usually make for competitions.
I started by rolling some construction grade gingerbread (recipe here) around two wooden dowel rods and baking them in the oven. I left enough of the dowel rods exposed on the bottom to drill directly through the wooden base for structural support. I used my sander to sand the gingerbread down and smooth it out.
Next, I got out a muffin pan and flipped it upside down.
I shaped some raw gingerbread over top of the individual muffin cups. Then I baked it until it was hard.
Once baked, I pulled the gingerbread off the muffin pan.
I used my scroll saw to trim off the edges and used my sander to smooth the surface.
Then I baked a few circles of gingerbread and stacked them together using edible tylose glue. I added the gingerbread muffin bowl on top of the stack and filed everything down to be nice and smooth.
I drilled two holes through the piece so the dowel rods could go right through them.
Then I baked two pieces of gingerbread over top of one of my stainless steel water bottles. I forgot to take pictures of the process, but it’s exactly like it sounds. I put some parchment paper over one of the water bottles, laid it down directly on the rack in the oven and placed two pieces of raw gingerbread over it to bake.
After the gingerbread cooled, I used my scroll saw again to trim the top, bottom, and sides of the gingerbread pieces. Then I glued them to one another, using the tylose glue, to create a gingerbread cylinder.
I started sliding my pieces over the dowel rods to build out my Nutcracker body. The bottom pieces are the legs. The stacked pieces are the skirt. I added another gingerbread muffin cup above that. Then I included the cylinder I created (which I ended up cutting in half).
Next I added a circle of gingerbread on top of the cylinder that I sanded down along the top edge to round off the top of the Nutcracker’s torso.
I made the head by baking some gingerbread on the inside of two muffin cups. I then shaved off the tops and glued them together to create a head shape.
The crown is another gingerbread cup made on the back of the muffin pan. I used the scroll saw to cut the triangular points.
I used my drill to put holes in every piece so the dowel rods could go the entire way up the structure. I also covered all my seams with ginger clay and let it harden overnight to firm everything up and smooth it out.
Once I had my gingerbread skeleton done, I started on the details. I made a few batches of ginger clay, colored it with my Wilton gel colors, and used it to sculpt directly over the gingerbread to create the clothing.
I let everything dry overnight so it would harden up. Then I started in on the details.
Gold embellishments on the boots using ginger clay and an edible Rainbow Dust Metallic Dark Gold paint.
Individual strands of hair rolled with ginger clay that I colored white using a combination of liquid whitener and powdered titanium dioxide.
A crown created with gingerbread and embellished with rolls of ginger clay along the bottom, ginger clay snowflakes punched with a decorative hole punch, round red sprinkles (nonpareils), and a layer of edible metallic gold paint.
I also ended up shaping some gingerbread into an egg shape and baking it. I covered it in red ginger clay and added some balls of ginger clay to the top that I painted gold. I placed it inside the crown to give it an old school look.
To create all the trim on his jacket, I rolled ginger clay into very thin lines. I colored it yellow, but I also ended up painting all of it gold in the end.
The arms were made the same way as the legs. I rolled raw gingerbread over some dowel rods, baked it in the oven, sanded it down with my sander, and covered it in ginger clay. I drilled small holes in the side of the body and the sides of the arms to attach them with bucatini pasta. I cut one of his arms at an angle, twisted it, and reattached it together so it was at a 90 degree angle.
I covered his head with flesh colored ginger clay and made all the features using ginger clay as well.
The staff was made with a piece of bucatini pasta that I added small balls of ginger clay to on the top and bottom. I painted the whole thing with my edible gold paint.
The hands are made out of small balls of cooked gingerbread covered in ginger clay. I drilled a hole through the one to stick the staff through it.
I added a few other small embellishments I made with wafer paper. I used a decorative hole punch to cut a snowflake out of wafer paper. I painted it gold and added a small red circle of ginger clay in the center.
I cut small diamonds out of wafer paper as well, painting them with the gold paint, and adding oval shaped red beads of ginger clay.
The overall effect was quite pleasing to the eye.
A few people at the event even mistook him for a real nutcracker! (It was pretty dark in there)
I hope you learned some new methods from this post. If you make your own nutcracker, be sure to email me at craftcribcreations@gmail.com with a picture or tag me @thecraftcrib in your photo on Instagram. I want to see them!
Subscribe to the blog to get updates when I post new tutorials, or check out some past ones below.
Other Gingerbread and Edible Art Project 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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