Creepmas Gingerbread House

Here is our first ever haunted gingerbread house.  We did a “normal” house too, but that one was boring, so I’m not going to talk about it. 

 

I used a Wilton kit. The black frosting starts out as stinky blue powder, but after you add water, it turns into black cement.  How cool is that? I’m not exactly Martha Stewart when it comes to decorating with frosting, my zombie turkeys are proof of that.  In previous years my gingerbread frosting technique has consisted of squeezing out frosting where the kids need to stick something.  Suffice to say I didn’t do such a good job, but what I lack in trimming windows, I made up for in making icicles. They look like, well…icicles, which really surprised me. 

I went all out on those windows too, rolling out gummy orange slices in sugar and cutting them into window shapes. Then I mucked them up with a bad icing job. I botched the little circle window so badly I scraped it off and did it over.  Before I could do that, I had to deal with the big stain the frosting left, so I smeared it around with a wet paper towel.  I should have black-washed the whole piece and I just might do that on purpose next year. 

One thing that worked was the skull wreath.  I used  a couple of the hard crappy mini gumdrops that came with the other house, so it’s not as full as I would’ve liked, but I think it looks good for a first run.  Also on the skull I just scored the teeth with a knife and then dusted it with sugar to make them stand out, that worked out as well.   

The last thing I’d like to mention is the tree.  I completely winged that and it’s still standing so I’ll consider it a success.  I mixed 3.5 oz. of chocolate with about 2 cups of pretzel sticks and laid them out like so on wax paper.  Next time I will make sure I shore up the bottom and the side in a straighter line, to give the pieces a snugger fit.  If the tree isn’t going to be viewed from all sides you could get away with just three sections.  So after the chocolate hardened, I melted another ounce of chocolate in a small plastic freezer bag, snipped a corner and piped it on the four long sides to fuse them together.  I also add some of those fabulous icicles, which I am now famous for (in my own mind), and sha-zam, spooky winter tree.

You’ve seen my fumbling attempt, now take a look at this zombie inspired work of art.