If you’re after a different take on a traditional gingerbread house, look no further than this Palm Springs inspired gingerbread house. There’s also a downloadable template for the structure – keep reading for all the details.
For this tutorial I wont be going into details on the recipe – any gingerbread cookie / house baking recipe will do! Aim to roll out the gingerbread dough to about 5mm (around 3/16″) thick.
Download the Palm Springs Gingerbread House Template Here!
Use the printed template to cut out the walls and roof for the house. As a quick tip, roll out your dough onto baking paper and transfer the cut pieces while they are on paper, onto a baking tray. This will save them stretching or breaking during transfer!
Once they’ve cooled you’ll be able to start icing and decorating!
Icing – You Will Need:
Egg White
1.5 cups Icing Sugar
Food Colouring
Zip Lock Bags
Hundreds and Thousands
Whisk the egg white until it starts to get bubbly. Slowly add the icing sugar and whisk until it starts to stiffen.
From here you can divide it into bowls to dye the icing different colours. Zip lock bags are great for storing the icing until you’re ready to use it. You can also cut a corner off and use the bag as a piping bag!
Its easiest to ice the walls of the gingerbread before they get stuck together, so ice the walls and roof and add any decorations you like on at this point. I coated the roof in hundreds and thousands and added some pink windows & a door.
Putting the Gingerbread House Together
For this part you’ll need an extra set of hands! Don’t go light on the icing ‘glue’ – more will definitely help everything stick and stay in place.
Start by gluing the front piece down onto your cake board. Then add a wall at a time. The template is configured so that the front and back pieces will hide the join of the two walls, so make sure they are sitting ‘behind’ the facade as you glue them together.
Hold (or prop up) your house steady until it can stand by itself. Depending on your icing, the temperature and humidity, this may take 10-20 minutes or so.
Once you are sure that the walls are steady, add the roof on top!
Decorations – You will Need:
Liquorice Strips
M&Ms
Green Fruit Stix (Musk Sticks)
Mint Balls
Rondoletti Wafer Biscuits
White Chocolate
Flaked Coconut
Choc coated Honeycomb Pieces
You can decorate your Palm Springs Gingerbread House however you like! However if you’d like some more details on what I did with mine, read on for some extra tips.
Party Lights: Cut a third off a bunch of M&Ms. Cut some liquorice into small squares and attach with icing. Once dry, stick them along the front roofline of your house. Add a long, thin liquorice strip to join them together.
Front Door: Once the icing on the front of the house is set, cut a thin strip of liquorice and glue on with icing. Add a contrasting colour inside the arch and a small piece of liquorice for the handle.
Cactus: Decorate fruit stix and mint balls with icing dots to resemble cactus. Place them around the exterior of the house.
Front Steps: Use wide white chocolate slabs for entryway steps.
Palm Trees: Glue some wafer biscuits around your house with icing at different angles. You’ll need to hold until the icing hardens or prop them up with objects until they are secure. I cut some fringey leaves from paper to add to the top of the palm trees (the only in-edible part of the house!)
Grass: Add some flaked coconut into a bowl with a few drops of green food dye. Mix until you get the desired colour and add it around your gingerbread house.
Your gingerbread house is complete! Take it to your next Christmas party, gift it or use it as a table centrepiece for Christmas… If doesn’t get eaten in the meantime, that is! 😉
