This was my biggest gingerbread house project yet.

It all began with paper, pencil, a yard stick, scissors,

a vision

and 100 pounds

of gingerbread dough

rolled thin

to make gingerbread doors,

gingerbread chimney and machine parts,

bubbles for the bubble machine

and 142 bare factory parts (walls, floors and roofs).

I made 120 pounds of billowy royal icing

to ice 51 windows

the roof parts

and all the walls.

I used 50 pounds worth of royal icing mortar

 to put the house together.

Then I edged every seam like I would a cake.

I sculpted Oompa Loompa heads out of gumpaste

 

and attached them to Oompa Loompa bodies

to make 17 Oompa Loompas, each with a unique face.

I  built a wooden platform

measuring 4 foot wide x 3.5 feet long.

I created a chocolate waterfall

then iced it.

I gorged on a whole lotta candy while I was at it.

The finished product won 2nd place in the 2010 Gingerbread City Competition and was auctioned off at a foodie gala to benefit the Epilepsy Foundation of San Diego. Ron Cohn, owner of Henry’s Marketplace in both Eastlake and Chula Vista, was generous enough to buy Wonka in auction.

Wonka also went on exhibit at the Mingei International Museum In Balboa Park, San Diego, CA for the 2010 December Nights Festival.

It remained on display at Henry’s Marketplace in Eastlake and Chula Vista for the holiday season.

To see finished photos of this gingerbread house, go here.

Sample my books
Gingerbread House Dough Recipe & Baking Instructions

Gingerbread House Decoration & Construction