This Gingerbuilder sold her house in December and closed and moved to a new (and beautiful!) home in February. Think back to the many snowy, icy weekends from this hard Ohio winter. Yep, that's when we moved.
and it sleeted.
but the other Gingerbuilders came and helped! and we had wine.
Erin's caption: Who moves in an ICE STORM?!
So I hope they forgive me.
Anyway, needless to say, moving everything we owned takes some time to unpack and organize...(still not completely there...)
I'm sorry to say this took away from our gingerbread time. Although we still found time to decorate an Easter House, so we are now back on track!
I did keep my baking tools in use by helping a friend decorate cupcakes for her daughter's birthday party.
I also broke in my oven making 2 cakes for friends.
Actually, I broke in my oven by baking brownies...I had to learn the hot spots after all! My husband and I ate those. (the sacrifices we make...)
THEN I made some cakes!
First, a Tommy Bahama Pina Colada Cake for a surprise birthday gift!
Then, a TARDIS cake for a birthday!!
I have a Nursing School graduation cake to make in May, as well as treats for a college graduation and bridal shower. Be sure to stay tuned!
AND I have a gingerbread surprise in the works! Planning! Planning!
Summer is just around the corner. You can be sure that our kitchen will get lots of use!
and not just from me! Gingerbuilder husbands too :-D
These pictures and more can be viewed on our Instagram account. Follow Gingerbuilders!
Please be sure to leave comments of encouragement or questions. We are excited to talk to you!
and contact us for any dessert designs you desire! (I love alliteration.)
Megan mentioned the Wilton decorating classes we were taking in this post.
Our final class was a time to use what we'd learned to decorate a cake. Unfortunately, Megan couldn't attend this last class, but she still learned all of the techniques through the previous classes.
Erin and I celebrated our graduation after class. The part of Megan was played by Ketchup...
Here's the cake I made for a friend:
The Wilton Classes have given Gingerbuilders time to refine our molding, fondant, and gumpaste skills. We practiced playing with our food so that we would be better designers and decorators in our business.
I have reviewed icing skills, learned some real fun royal icing flowers, learned to work with butter cream icing, (the fat in it is usually an enemy in the gingerbread world) and bake regular cakes (that I don't usually
make because I don't like cake. I know. I'm CRAZY.)
I have gotten better at mixing, squeezing, dollop-ing, shaping--you name it!
I love edible art!
Gingerbread Houses are being designed for year-round sales. Cookies and treats to follow.
Meanwhile, if you want to use Gingerbuilders' mad skills to create a cake for your special occasion, please contact us.
I am currently working on another baby bump cake for a shower. An anniversary cake, birthday cake, and bridal shower cake are on the calendar. I also make yummy cupcakes.
Our fun and passion goes into all of our baked creations.
Please follow us and check back often to see what else we are cooking up!
I started my professional training in pretty things this month with a Wilton Cake Decorating Class at Michael's (they offer these all over the country if you, too, would like to learn to make pretty things). This is a fondant class. The other two GingerBuilders have already taken a few Wilton cake decorating classes, but this was my first endeavor. I know we've joked about modesty being our best quality, and this is another fine example. I made the prettiest bow ever!
We got a late start due to the crazy Midwest Winter, so we were playing catch-up. We learned to make a Calla Lily and the bases for a few flowers at the first class.
I was surprised that after following a few steps, and having a little patience, I made a bow! This happens when we make gingerbread houses, too. We'll be working and working and working non-stop, feeling like we're getting no where. Then, we'll look up, and the house is done (or almost done) and it feels like magic. The bow came together the same way.
I was so proud of my bow I made a chocolate cake to put it on :-)
This was not my prettiest cake ever, but the chocolate buttercream frosting over the devil's food cake was delicious. It's a vicious cycle, baking and creating pretty things, but someone has to do it.
In our next class, we tackled some trickier flowers and added leaves. As our regular readers know, I break stuff. Our pretty flowers start as little balls of gum paste/fondant on a piece of spaghetti. This is all well and good until "someone" keeps breaking the spaghetti.
Never the less, I persevered and created more pretty things! I love making pretty things! I sound like such a girl when I say this. I feel like you all need to watch me swear at the TV during a football game to let you know how un-girly-girl I am.
For your viewing pleasure (I hope!):
Please remember to subscribe to keep up to date on all our fun GingerBuilder adventures. (My Denver Broncos made it to the Super bowl, maybe I will post a video of me swearing at the TV)
Have a wonderful week!
~Megan
Now that competition season is over, I’m here to offer you
an insight into the makings of our “Christmas Came to WhoVille” house.My lovely partners had a hilarious night of “brainstorming”
on the theme of our first competition: WhoVille.I, unfortunately, left my phone at my sister’s
the night before and missed every message regarding the “brainstorming” evening
(mostly just drinking wine and eating cheeses).SOOOO, the creative credit really must go to those two. They wanted an alternative to the boring, overdone though adorable, traditional scene
from WhoVille, and came up with a play on words that I absolutely love. We
split the houses for baking this year. Steph baked the “Who Dey” house using
the humidity proof gingerbread recipe.
Erin baked “The Who Chalet” using her traditional gingerbread
recipe.
I used the humidity proof recipe for the “Doctor Who’s
T.A.R.D.I.S.” and about lost my mind doing so. The dough was so dry that it would NOT come
together. Stephanie had the same problem. We each added more honey and a small
amount of water to make it work. I waited to do the curved pieces at Steph’s because
they tend to break in transport when they aren’t assembled (Okay, I tend to break
them! We’ve already covered that.)
The really cool thing is that we were able to use the baked
pieces to curve the gingerbread exactly how it needed to be.
We even trimmed the gingerbread while it was still hot to
the exact size we needed.
We bought all our baked pieces to Stephanie’s and proceeded
to destroy her kitchen. I made a batch
of marshmallow fondant, a process that will get its own blog post later. We
covered each house in fondant this year, a first for the Gingerbuilders. Steph
and Erin took some cake decorating classes this fall and learned some useful
tips; like mixing fondant with gumpaste to make it dry harder and wearing gloves
while coloring fondant to prevent your hands from getting stained.
* Something we learned this year, if you cover the pieces in
fondant, you need to allow for the extra thickness of the pieces. I would say
it added about a ¼ inch to the thickness. This affected the T.A.R.D.I.S.construction the most.
We wanted to make a snowy mountain behind the town.
We went
through 4 batches of Rice Krispy treats!
We wanted to use Rice Krispy treats for the Christmas tree
in the town center, but we ran out.
Necessity being the mother
of all invention, we mixed shredded wheat with the marshmallow and voila:
Christmas Tree!
You may remember the marshmallow in the microwave video we
posted a few weeks back. That was from this gingerbuilding day.We used a few new candies this year, the best
and most delicious being Nerd Rope!
We used Winterfresh gum on the windows of
the T.A.R.D.I.S., which had a very intense fresh smell.
We made
tiny Christmas trees by covering Bugles, of all things, with a leaf tip. It
turns out they are not just for making scary fingers and snacking, anymore.
We
used the leaf tip on the big tree, as well. Then, we covered it with tiny candy canes and a melted yellow
Starbust star. We used mint lifesavers to create wreathes for our town.
We love
adding little details;
like a pile of undecorated wreathes and candy canes next to
the tree as if the Who’s are still decorating,
street signs to other towns,
and a bow tie and fez to our Doctor "Who."
We are really proud of this year’s creation, I hope you
enjoy it! If you have any questions about materials or methods we used, feel
free to comment. Just because Christmas is almost here, doesn't mean we are done until next year. Make sure you subscribe to our blog to hear more of our antics and helpful tips.
