Gingerbread Houses, Buildings and Landmarks

If you've ever wanted to know how to construct a Gingerbread Downton Abbey, Here's a video about that very process. Learn how to make your own gingerbread Statue of Liberty and Chrysler Building. Here's a photo gallery of gingerbread buildings including Moscow's St. Basil's Cathedral. I've written before about other Gingerbread houses and other architecture.

Gingerbread House and Building Architecture

Frank Lloyd Wright's famous masterpiece, Fallingwater, has been recreated in gingerbread. Reader, Paul C. sent me this tip. I found more examples of eatable gingerbread architecture including an Eiffel Tower, Independence Hall and Rockefeller Center. Also, a spectacular Empire State Building, gothic churches and cathedral gingerbread buildings - some even have flying buttresses.

Eiffel Tower Desert Ideas

The holiday party season is in full swing from now through January. Architectural fans can impress their guests with building-shaped deserts. Here is a recipe to build an Eiffel Tower using sugar wafers as building blocks and frosting as cement. An Eiffel-Towering cake is also a popular design. The mother of all sweet confections must be the 12-foot-tall chocolate Eiffel tower created for Paris’ St. Pancras railway station, from which the Eurostar train departs. This gingerbread and hazelnut tower is for those with a very big sweet tooth. Previously, I’ve written about other building-shaped cakes, chocolate and even JELLO. Bon appetit !

Holiday Miniature Buildings

This is the traditional time of year for gingerbread houses, but sometimes architectural replicas are made of other unusual materials. George Washington’s estate, Mount Vernon, has been reproduced in gingerbread by former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier. The five-foot-wide and two-foot-tall replica will be on display as part of the new Christmas at Mount Vernon event at the historic Virginia home. Not far away in D.C., the U.S. Botanic Garden creates miniature buildings with their annual model train exhibit. Not your run-of-the-mill train miniatures, these are replicas of D.C. landmarks made of plant-based natural materials. Buildings included are the White House, U.S. Capital and new this year is a miniature of the National Museum of the American Indian. A few years ago in London, Chinese artist Song Dong created a city of biscuits and sweets at Selfridges department store. The 12 metre sculpture was composed of 72,000 biscuits, cakes and sweets.

Gingerbread White House

Each year, White House chiefs create a replica of the President's home in gingerbread. Displayed in the State Dining Room, the house took more than two months to make, utilized 350 pounds of white chocolate and 150 sheets of gingerbread. The White House 2008 holiday theme is "A Red, White and Blue Christmas." This year, gingerbread White House features replicas of the Bush family pets sitting in a rooftop sleigh and cookies resembling the U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. More than 60,000 visitors are expected to tour the holiday decorations. If the holiday spirit or Martha Stewart aspirations move you, try making your own gingerbread White House.