Gingerbread House Cupcakes

By Jill Pryor

Make an impression this Christmas with these delicious lemon and ginger cupcakes complete with individual mini gingerbread houses!

Dec GingerbreakSteps

1. For the Lemon and Ginger Cupcakes – 4oz Self-raising flour, 1tsp Baking powder, 4oz Soft margarine at room temperature, 4oz Caster sugar, 2 Large eggs at room temperature, 1oz Stem ginger finely chopped, 1tsp Stem ginger syrup, 1 Dessertspoon of lemon juice, 1 Lemon rind

2. For the gingerbread – 4.5oz Butter at room temperature, 3.5oz Light brown sugar, 125ml Golden syrup, 1 Egg yolk, 13oz Plain fl our, 1 Dessertspoon of ground ginger, 1tsp Mixed spice, 1tsp Bicarbonate of soda, 1oz Stem ginger, drained and finely chopped

3. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/180°C. Use an electric beater to beat the butter, egg yolk, golden syrup and sugar until pale and combined. Sieve in the fl our, ground ginger, mixed spice, bicarbonate of soda and add the stem ginger. Mix to form smooth dough in your hands. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and place a handful of the dough in the middle. Cover with another layer of greaseproof paper and roll out to 2mm thick. Remove the top layer of greaseproof paper and bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown.

4. For the royal icing – 1½lb Icing sugar, 3 Free-range egg whites, 3tsp Lemon juice, 1½tsp Glycerine. Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until frothy. Add the icing sugar a spoonful at a time whilst continuing to whisk. Add the glycerine and lemon juice and beat until the icing forms stiff peaks.

5. You will also need – For the decoration: Edible condensed caramel food colouring, handful of sugar paste, desiccated coconut

6. Repeat this process in batches until you have enough shapes to build your houses. If you bake all the dough at once, it will cool before you have time to cut out your shapes and you will risk breaking the gingerbread. Cut out batches of the same shape to make the process quicker!

7. Pipe decoration on the house fronts, backs and sides using white royal icing and a #1 Writer nozzle. Snowflakes, stars and crosses look particularly festive. Leave to set.
Roll out caramel coloured sugar paste to about 3mm thick. Use a #12 nozzle from the Piping Nozzle Tip & Cleaner set to cut out lots of mini circles. Paint a strip of water onto the base of each roof piece and evenly apply four circles. Create a tile like impression by pressing the curved tip of a serrated modelling tool into the top of each circle. Add four layers of tiles, as shown. Trim any excess from the edges and leave to dry. Use the tip of the nozzle cleaner included in the set to poke out the circles.

8. Colour a small amount of royal icing with the caramel food colouring and pop into a piping bag with a #2 Writer nozzle – this will act as your glue to hold the house together. First, stick the two side pieces to the front of the house. Add the back, then the shortest roof piece and finally, the largest roof piece. Leave to set.

9. Using the #1 Writer nozzle, pipe snow along the roof top and sides and add a little to the bottom roof tiles.

10. Assembling the Cakes – se a #1A Tube nozzle to pipe a swirl of royal icing covering the entire top of the cake. Sprinkle with desiccated coconut. Place a gingerbread house in the centre of each cake and gently press in.

11. Create a fence e­ffect by adding a white cupcake wrapper around each cake. Finally, add sprigs of rosemary for trees! TIP: You can use these festive cupcakes to create a table centre piece or why not make some for children to decorate with chocolate and sweets.

12. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/170°C. Sieve the fl our into a bowl and add the other ingredients. Blend until smooth. Divide into 12 cupcake cases and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

13. Making the houses – Gently run a rolling pin over the cooked dough as soon as it comes out of the oven to even out the surface. Before the gingerbread cools, cut out the various house shapes using the templates on page 119. Cut a small front door into the house fronts. Leave to cool.

You will need

Little Venice Cake CompanyCupcake Cases (48pk) – Party
Little Venice Cake CompanyCupcake Wrapper (6pk) – Pearlescent White
Little Venice Cake CompanyPiping Nozzle (#1A) – Cupcake – Tube
Little Venice Cake CompanyBeginner Dual Tip Modelling Tool Set (8pcs)
Little Venice Cake CompanyDisposable Piping Bags (20pk)
Little Venice Cake CompanyProfessional Smooth Rolling Pin (Medium)
Little Venice Cake CompanyPiping Nozzle Tip & Cleaner Set (26pcs)


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