Inspired by the old Cal Young Yolk Farm house
The Cal Young Gingerbread House is inspired by the real house located at 1610 Cal Young Street, in Eugene, Oregon. While I liked the size and style of the house, I didn’t like the front porch. So I didn’t include it in the template.
The approximate footprint/size of this house is 18″ wide x 7″ deep x 9.5″ tall. The Cal Young Gingerbread House is relatively simple to construct. The construction consists of building three structures that stack against each other to form the long house. Since these structures are all free-standing, the Cal Young Gingerbread House template essentially includes templates for three houses that can be arranged together, or separate… however you wish.
The Cal Young Gingerbread House was constructed back in the mid-2000’s when I was looking for a local house to enter into the Eugene Festival of Trees.
Below is a list of the candy used to decorate the Cal Young Gingerbread House. My favorite design aspect of this house is the addition of the pond, and the bushes made from yummy cereal-marshmallow treats.
To decorate the windows, I used vanilla wafer cookies for the window shutters, and I made window boxes using tootsie roll candy and red frosting poinsettias.
The chimney’s are decorated using a favorite candy of mine, the Necco candy, which is a very popular candy for gingerbread house decorating. The roofing is simply black frosting with sprinkled shredded coconut.
Adding children playing in the show is my favorite addition to any gingerbread house. For me, adding children playing brings the gingerbread display life. For the Cal Young Gingerbread House I used store bought marzipan, which feels like working with playdough.
Special Design Elements
How-To instructions for special design elements can be found on the blog at www.gingerbreadbydesign.com (a website dedicated to the sharing of how-to instructions, templates, pictures, ideas, recipes, contests, etc.). I used the following special design element for this specific gingerbread house:
Decoration Candy
Doesn’t everybody have a box of left-over candy stored in their closet, at all times? I’m always scoping-out the perfect candy for my next gingerbread creation!
Candy used for this gingerbread house:
- Foundation: Necco candy
- Walls: white Royal Icing
- Roof: black Royal Icing with shredded coconut
- Chimney: Necco candy
- Porch: Rye Crackers
- Window Shutters: vanilla Wafer cookies
- Window Boxes: Tootsie Roll candy
- Doors: Waffle cookies
- Door Decor: green Gummy wreath
- Front Walkway: Puffed Rice cereal
- Bushes/Tree: Rice cereal and Marshmallows
- Grass/Snow: Coconut and green sanding sugar
- Pond: Poured Sugar and Pumpkin candy
- Children: · Marzipan
- Glitz and Sparkle: Silver dragees
- Food Coloring: Red, Green, Multiple colors for children (marzipan)
- Sanding Sugar: Green
Templates
Templates are available for this gingerbread house via electronic download of a .pdf file, or pre-printed and shipped.
Download – Template downloads are available in the Gingerbread-By-Design Online Store. Download the .pdf e-Template to your electronic device, print on your printer, cut-out the template pieces and assemble per the instructions provided. All templates are full-size and ready to use. No enlarging required.
Pre-Printed – Pre-printed templates are available in the Gingerbread-By-Design Online Store. These templates are pre-printed for you to then cut-out the template pieces, cut your pieces from gingerbread dough, bake, and assemble per the instructions provided. The pre-printed template packet includes:
- Template printed on 67lb card stock
- Supply and Candy List
- Recipes, including number of batches needed
- Rolling, Cutting, and Baking instructions
- Assembly instructions with step-by-step pictures
- Decorating suggestions, including design elements utilized
- Handy ziplock storage bag to store your templates
All templates are full-size and ready to use. No enlarging required.
