When most of us think about gingerbread houses, the first thing that comes to our mind is Christmas. After all, there is something about the cold weather and the warm gingerbread house that just makes us have that nostalgic feeling. In addition, gingerbread is traditionally for Christmas but, as you are about to see, you are not limited to only enjoying gingerbread at Christmas time. In fact, it is great for Halloween as well.
When building your gingerbread house, there are a number of things to keep in mind. First of all, you want it to be awesome looking so that it is not only going to taste great, but it is going to look great before and during the time that you are eating it. Additionally, you want it to have a theme that is just right for the season. That is what makes this haunted house gingerbread cake perfect for October 31.
This can be a project that you can do for a party or to surprise the children but don’t forget to include them in the process as well. Not only is it going to make something amazing for them to enjoy, it also provides an opportunity for you to build a memory.
Ingredients and Materials:
Gingerbread dough
Black sixlets
Black Jimmies
Black sanding sugar
Black skull candy
Black Chocolate
White Chocolate
Candy Corn
Mallow pumpkins
Black licorice
Hershey’s chocolate bars
Coffin Cutter
Yellow hard candy
Procedure:
1. Roll out gingerbread dough and cut out house pieces: 4@ 4 1/2″ x 5 1/4″, 2@ 8″ x 5, angled down to 3″ at bottom. Remove “door” with a coffin cutter, remove windows with a square cutter. Create chimney with coffin cutter pieces.
2. Bake cookies in preheated oven for 8-12 minutes at 350F. Allow to cool completely (and harden if time permits).
3. Melt yellow hard candies in a preheated oven for 6-8 minutes. Once hardened and cooled, attach to the back of the windows using white chocolate. Once chocolate has hardened, turn the cookie back over and use thin strips of licorice to frame the window.
4. Using candy corn and melted white chocolate, cover the 2 halves of the roof with candy corn shingles.
5. Assemble the bottom part of the house by attaching the back and side with melted sugar. Attach the front and opposite side. Assemble the chimney. Use the melted sugar to glue the roof on the house.
6. Cover the chimney in black chocolate, then press into the sanding sugar. Do the same with the door. On the front of the door attach a chocolate skull and a door knob.
7 Dip the chimney in the sugar and attach to the roof.
8. Use black chocolate to attach black skulls to the eaves trough of the cake.
9. Pipe black spider webs with chocolate and cover in sanding sugar. Pipe 2 crosses with the chocolate as well.
10. Keep cake in fridge until you are ready to serve. It is best consumed within 2-3 days.
11. Let house harden.
Haunted House Candy Corn Cake:
Ingredients and Materials:
Prepared 9″x13″ vanilla cakes colored yellow, orange, white
Vanilla buttercream coloured black, grey, white, yello, orange
Black fondant
Black chocolate
Cookie crumbs
Skeleton bone candies
Tea lights (battery)
Procedure:
1. Stack cakes starting with yellow at the bottom, and cover in yellow buttercream. Place orange layer on top next, cover with orange buttercream and finish with white cake on the top.
2. Carve the edges of the cake round, making a cliff or rock shape. Reserve two of the corners and place on top for graves.
3. Cover entire cake with grey buttercream. Dab on white and black buttercreams all over the cake and smooth with a cake spatula.
4. On the top of the cake, place a small square of cookie crumbs and add pumpkins and bones. Insert the chocolate crosses into the grave humps.
5. Place tea lights on top of the cake where the house will go and place the house on top of the lights so that the windows glow. Attach the door with additional chocolate.