Haunted Gingerbread House
Hey ghouls and creeps! We are a week out from Creepmas, can you believe it?!? My husband purchased the gingerbread house kit that you’ll see in this tutorial during Halloween, but you can use any gingerbread house kit that you’re able to find! Make this project with the kids, and use it as a centerpiece for your holiday table. Let’s get started!
I rated the Haunted Gingerbread House project as easy! Skills and techniques covered in the making of this project include: making frosting, piping frosting, building a gingerbread house, applying candy and other embellishments, and making ghosts out of candy melts.
Step 1: Gingerbread House Assembly: Begin by making your icing following the ingredient portions above. I found that in the end, I made quadruple the recipe, with the amount frosting used in the making of this project. I would recommend doubling the ingredients for the first frosting batch, then coming back for more if necessary.
Snip the tip off one of your piping bags so that there is a 1/2″ opening. Using a spatula and a cup, place the frosting inside the snipped piping bag.
Then pipe a square on the house’s base(usually the kit will provide guidelines), and on the sides of the house’s front and back. Stick the house’s front to the base and hold for several minutes.
Then stick the sides of the house to the base and to the frosting on the house’s front. Hold the sides for several minutes until secure.
Once determining that the front and sides seem to be holding, stick the house’s back to the base and sides. Allow the walls of the house to dry in place for 15-30 minutes before attaching the roof.
Pipe frosting on the tops of the house walls and stick the roof panels in place.
Step 2: Decorating: I then took the frosting(still in my piping bag) and piped lines of frosting back and forth across the base covering the gingerbread and the cardboard completely. Press Snow Cap chocolate chips into the just piped frosting, or decorate to your preference.
Once the base is covered, pipe frosting over the back and sides of the house and decorate with candy. I used red and green mints to cover the back and then used a combination of a mint and some Mike and Ikes to create spiders on the sides.
Repeat the previous steps to decorate the roof. I used Mike and Ikes to give my house “lights” and bone and bat sprinkles because spooky vibes.
Give your house eyes and a mouth by piping frosting in these areas. Then stick mints then snow caps around the mints to make the eyes. Flip a snow cap upside down to make the pupils(or use melted candy melts later)! Use Mike and Ike pieces to create two rows of teeth in the house’s mouth.
Now that you’re satisfied with your gingerbread to icing and candy ratio, it’s time to add the ghosts! Melt about a quarter of your white candy melt bag contents in a microwave-safe bowl. I usually put my melts in for a minute, take the bowl out and stir my melts until they’ve melted completely. Snip the tip off another piping bag, leaving 1/2″ opening, and fill with the melted candy melts.
Make dots of melted candy melts 1″ in diameter on a lined cookie sheet. Then use the back of a spoon to smear the dots down, creating ghost tails.
After finishing with the white melts, clean your tools and surfaces before moving on to the black melts. Then repeat the candy melt prep steps(the only difference cut a 1/4″ opening in your piping bag). Pipe little eyes and mouths onto your ghost bodies.
If you have extra black melts left, use it to give detail to the spiders on the sides of your house! Also consider other black details on your house, or piping spiderwebs and/or other spooky embellishments! Pop your cookie sheets with your embellishments into the refrigerator to chill for 15 minutes.
Then remove the cookie sheets and gently remove your embellishments from the surface. Using extra frosting as glue, adhere your embellishments where desired on your haunted house!
Yay! You’re finished! Place your haunted gingerbread house on a cake stand and use it as a centerpiece or additional decor this holiday season!
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Ready for your next project? Here are some tutorials on the blog I think you’ll like! Frame Flip tutorial: https://britnijade.com/frame-flip/, Macrame Wall Hanging: https://britnijade.com/macrame-wall-hanging-w-bones/, or the Spider Web Macrame: https://britnijade.com/spider-web-macrame/. Enjoy!
