GINGERBREAD 2015
This year’s gingerbread display is another stunning masterpiece by Gibbet Hill Grill co-owner, Kate Webber. We asked Kate a few questions about this year’s confection wonder!
Tell us about this year’s gingerbread display!
The castle is based loosely on Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, which is rumored to be the model for Cinderella’s Castle in Disney World. I was inspired this year by all of my nieces and nephews, and the children of my friends and family. They all unabashedly believe in magic and joy, especially during the holiday season. And I think there’s something magical about castles made of candy with silver and gold on top.
The trees are made out of Rice Krispy treats under the frosting. The flag on top of the building is made from ribbon candy and is in honor of my niece, Lily, who taught me how to make that when she was about 8 years old.
How much flour, sugar and eggs did you use?
48 c. flour
11 c. granulated sugar
10 boxes sugar cubes (I think there are 128 cubes in a box? So well over 1,200 sugar cubes)
18 lb. confectioners sugar
75 eggs (actually more because I had a hard time separating a few of them)
How long did it take?
It is difficult to estimate the hours. There were multiple people who worked on it. I know that in one day alone four people put in 34 man hours (2 of us working 13 hours straight!) We worked on the project for 2 weeks not include the time I put in beforehand researching, designing and drafting the building, which was probably another…I don’t know…4-5 hours on its own. All in it was over 200, likely, if you look at all of the help everyone provided. Several people helped me, including my mother, my father, my grandmother, my nieces and nephew, and my fianceé, Robin.
Any challenges?
This year the trick was definitely the lighting. I wanted the hallways lit as well as the windows, and needed to find a way to get lights into the turrets. The interior of each of the buildings is a maze of support walls and methods of snaking the lights to reach each “floor” of each building, but as always, every part of the structure is edible. There are hooks inside of the buildings made of candy canes, rafters made of gingerbread beams. And outside of the building there’s a lot of wishing and hoping and crossing of fingers that everything stays whole, nothing breaks, and the candy cane hooks stay where they are.
What are the dimensions of the castle?
The castle is 45” wide, and at its peak it is 30.5” tall. The height from the mantle to the ceiling is just shy of 39”, so it was close. At its deepest the castle is 7” deep. The mantle is 8” deep. One can see the challenge.
Everyone is curious…how is the the top of the first tower is able to stay resting on top of those four candy canes?
Magic.