St. Andrews gingerbread house; inspired by a real house in Eugene, Oregon
The St. Andrews House is a favorite house of mine. Simple and yet majestic, with grand front columns made from giant candy cane sticks.
This gingerbread house was built on a 36″ wide board to be displayed and auctioned-off at the 2002 Festival of Trees in Eugene, OR. The approximate footprint/size of this house is 24″ wide x 7.5″ deep x 12.5″ tall.
The majority of the decorating of the St. Andrews Gingerbread House (#StAndrews) was done while the house was flat, before construction.
One of my favorite design elements on the St. Andrews Gingerbread House are the front pillars, and the greenery that wraps from top to bottom. While one kid is on the ladder trying to hang the greenery on the pillar, another kid is on the ground helping with an armful! I piped the greenery in two sections. Following the twist of one of the red bands of peppermint, while the candy cane stick was flat on the table I piped the back side of the candy cane stick, then after the frosting had dried I placed the pillars on the house and finished piping the front of the candy cane stick. Adding the kids gave life to the display and made the story complete.
Originally this template used 12″ candy cane sticks, but at some point the manufacturer shortened them to 10″ (9.5″). I have since updated the template to account for shorter candy cane sticks.
I tried something new with the lit fence posts. I first taped my mini-light strand under the house area, and around the perimeter of the board where I wanted the fence posts. I taped the light strand so each light was pointing up. I then wrapped each light with a handful of marshmallow cereal, and added lifesavers around the actual bulb (perfect fit). I then capped with a chocolate kiss. When turned on, the lights illuminated the lifesavers and provided a nice glow.
Special Design Elements
How-To instructions for special design elements used on the St. Andrews Gingerbread House can be found on the blog on www.gingerbreadbydesign.com (a free membership website for the sharing of how-to instructions, templates, pictures, ideas, recipes, contests, etc.). For the St. Andrews Gingerbread House, I used the following special design elements:
- wrought-iron fencing with edible re-bar for the fence and ladder
- Rice Krispy and Cornflake cereal Marshmallow Treats for bushes and fence posts
- hard candy (poured sugar) for windows
- Got Snow melting snowman
- Store bought Marzipan for the kids
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 the St. Andrews Gingerbread House:
- Front Door – Green Gummy Wreath and Chocolate Candy bar
- Pillars – 4 10″ Big Stick Candy Canes
- Window Shutters – 38 sticks of Cinnamon Stick Gum
- Front walkway – Graham Crackers
- Fence Posts – Rice cereal, Marshmallows, chocolate Kisses
- Bushes – Flake cereal and Marshmallows
- Foundation and Gable – Necco candy
- Window Boxes – 12 Pink wafer cookies and hot-cinnamon candy
- Door mat – Chocolate cookie
- Grass/Snow – Coconut and green and white decorators sugar
- Children – Marzipan and food coloring as desired
- Red Food coloring
- Green Food coloring
- Glitz and Sparkle – Silver Dragees
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.
