Crazy, Pink, Psychedelic Gingerbread Fairy House!

Last Christmas we made and built a gingerbread house, which was quickly devoured with friends on Christmas Day.

Gingerbread house, 2009:

This year, with Sophie’s Birthday Party a week before Christmas (actual Birthday Boxing Day!), she decided a ‘pink’, fairy gingerbread house would be the perfect way to celebrate her Birthday.

Unfortunately I didn’t make quite enough gingerbread and had trouble rolling it out. I didn’t follow the measurements in the recipe as a result, but worked my own impromptu (not very good) maths over breakfast on Thursday morning.

When we came to building it there were a few large gaps in the roof – ahem! I tried using skewers to hold it together, but even with those the roof started to fall in on itself. I tried slathering on the icing in large quantities, filling up the ‘holes’ in the roof with lollies! It was frustrating and hilarious all at once. Thankfully, Sophie was working on it with me and since it was all about ‘fun’ and not a work of art, I let my perfectionist side go and simply grabbed a mug to put in the house and keep the roof up!

Psychedelic Gingerbread Fairy House 2010:

I went to bed that night with the house under wraps of foil and couldn’t bring myself to look at it again until the morning of the party.

At 7am on the morning of the party I decided we’d need another cake, that was at least edible for the adults (the children would happily pick of the mountain of lollies on the gingerbread house, no matter the appearance), so Sophie helped me whip up a chocolate cake.

I decorated it whilst the first party guests arrived for her party!

When it came to candles and singing ‘Happy Birthday’ most of the children had already had a good peek at the crazy house and chanted, ‘Gingerbread house! Gingerbread house!’ – well, so long as the children love it, that’s all that matter! Sophie looked very proud and eager to tuck into the lollies when the time came.

And all the children were like vultures swooping in on the lollies and plucking the house bare… (never mind the gingerbread!).

And the chocolate cake went down a treat too!

At the end of the day, we had fun and the children loved it. Plus the chocolate cake was an added bonus and my first chocolate cake that really rose (and didn’t dip later) and tasted divinely moist (definitely great made fresh on the day it’s going to be eaten).

Yummy! More Birthday posts to come soon 🙂 We had an amazing day (and lots of sugar highs!).

(I’ll update this post with recipes if anyone is interested!)