Two weeks until Christmas y’all, where did all that time go? Have you spent some time in the kitchen to create some cookie magic this year? Today I have a special treat for all the brave bakers out there who do not shy away from a baking challenge. Let’s make a rustic Gingerbread Cabin! I love gingerbread houses and I was obsessed with them since being a kid. To the point that I begged my grandma to bake one with me every year (of course I was mainly interested in the decorating part as a kid).
Since I have turned into a vivid vanlifer last year, I love everything camping, cabin and campervan. So this year, that gingerbread house turned into a rustic gingerbread cabin. Just looking at those photos make my cozy cabin heart jump. Maybe there is a kid, friend or family member that would love one of those tiny rustic cabins for Christmas?!
Some people say, gingerbread houses are tricky to make cause of the construction bit. Also sticking the gingerbread house parts together might end up in a gingerbread house collapse. But I would love for you to accept this challenge because I have some tipps up my sleeve to make the gingerbread house construction a breeze.
Some tricks to build a sturdy and pretty Rustic Gingerbread Cabin:
- Use a baking mix. I would always encourage you to make very recipe from scratch! But since making a gingerbread house is pretty time consuming, take the short cut and go for a high quality organic gingerbread mix. This is the one I have used.
- Use an easy gingerbread house pattern for the individual pieces. The tricky part is that if you don’t cut the pieces exactly, they won’t fit together after baking. So picking a very easy and straight-forward pattern will guarantee a fool proof gingerbread house. I can recommend this pattern here!
- Start small! I know it can be tempting to start with a big gingerbread house but trust me, start with one that you can handle easily. A gingerbread house is much easier to assemble if it is not too big plus the smaller ones tend to be more stable because they don’t weigh as much.
- Use a vegan royal icing that REALLY sticks your house parts together. There is always the issue that the construction doesn’t stick properly. But with a good royal icing, you will be able to construct a strong long lasting house. Check out the recipe below for a fool-proof vegan royal icing.
- Use hard candy to create colorful cabin windows. Before you bake the individual pieces of the house, make sure to place pieces of hard candy inside each window. The candy will melt and leave you with bright see through window.
- Use a sharp knife to create that stone wall house look. You could totally skip this step but if you want to give your gingerbread cabin that rustic outside look, create a pattern by carefully drawing lines into the facade with a knife before baking.
Rustic Gingerbread Cabin
Ingredients
- 2 packs gingerbread baking mix 500g total
- 120 g icing sugar
- 20 g chickpea brine
- 1 bag hard candy
- 100 g white fondant
Instructions
- Prepare the gingerbread baking mix according to instructions. Cut out the individual house pieces with help of the pattern using a sharp knife.
- Place a piece of hard candy into each window.
- Bake according to baking mix instructions. Let the cabin pieces cool entirely.
- Mix the royal icing by whisking together the chickpea brine and icing sugar. Fill the royal icing into a piping bag with a tiny round nozzle.
- Start sticking the prices together stasrting with the 4 house foundation pieces. Aloow some time to make the pieces stick together.
- Stick the roof pieces on top of the foundation. Start creating the roof tiles with your piping bag. Add some additional decorations to windows or the door.
- Roll out the fonadant as the snow basis of the gingerbread cabin. Place your cabin on the fondant and decoarte with tiny mushrooms or wood animals.
Loved my Rustic Gingerbread House and looking for more Christmas inspiration?