Whether you’re a fan of animation or not, I think most people would agree that Pixar movies are pretty incredible. Personally, I love animation and I love Pixar. I’m like the Ellie Kemper character in Bridesmaids, who wants to have a Pixar-themed bridal shower. Lots of people ask me what my favorite Pixar movies are, so I’ve had many opportunities to think about it. Here are my top three: Toy Story 3, Wall-E and Up. The last one, Up, probably has my favorite imagery of all the movies. A colorful Victorian house floating around by balloons? It’s so wonderful and weird and I love it!
Materials:
- gingerbread cake (I used 2 ½ 9 x 13-inch pans of cake that I made from a box mix)
- printable
- frosting
- food coloring
- piping bags
- graham crackers
- Pirouline Rolled Wafer cookies
- skewers
- scissors
Directions:
1. Cut out shapes in printable. Lay shapes on cake and cut out. You’ll want to cut out 6 square shapes, 3 of the half hexagon shapes and 1 of each of the other shapes.
2. Stack the layers on top of each other to form a house. You may want to trim it to level it off.
3. Cut diagonals on the top 2 layers to form a roof.
4. Stack the smaller shapes on top of each other to form the bay windows and porch. Even though you’ll end up taking these layers apart to frost in between them, I chose to stack the layers before frosting just to visualize how the house will look.
5. Frost in between the layers. Stick some skewers in the cake to keep everything together.
6. Frost a crumb coat over the cake and refrigerate overnight.
7. Mix food coloring into frosting. Add frosting in piping bags.
8. Make windows and a door by piping frosting in window and door shapes on a sheet of parchment paper. Refrigerate until hard.
9. To frost your cake, first, pipe outlines on the cake to help plan the colors on the house. Pipe more frosting to fill in the outlines. Smooth frosting with a knife.
10. Stick frosting windows and door on house.
11. Add a little frosting on graham crackers and stick on top of cake to form a roof. Frost roof with dark frosting.
12. Add a Pirouline Rolled Wafer cookie under the front left corner of the roof for extra support.
13. Add the second-floor window portion to the house. Top with a graham cracker roof. Frost.
14. Top the house with the chimney cake piece.
15. Frost some green grass around the cake stand for Carl’s yard.
Cut out the shapes in the printable. Lay the shapes on the cake and cut out. You’ll want to cut out six square shapes, three of the half hexagon shapes and one of each of the other shapes.
Stack the layers on top of each other to form a house. Cut diagonals on the top two layers to form a roof. (Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of process shots on how I stacked and trimmed the layers, because I was figuring it out as I went. The printable shapes are a great starting point, but actually shaping the house may require some extra cake pieces or extra trimming.) Stack the smaller shapes on top of each other to form the bay windows and porch. Frost in between the layers. Stick some skewers in the cake to keep everything together.
Frost a crumb coat over the cake and refrigerate overnight.
Mix food coloring in the frosting. Add the frosting in piping bags. Yay for pretty colors!!
Pipe frosting in window and door shapes on a sheet of parchment paper. Refrigerate until hard.
To frost your cake, first, pipe outlines on the cake to help plan the colors on the house. Pipe more frosting to fill in the outlines. Smooth frosting with a knife. Stick frosting windows and the door on the house.
Almost there! Remember, Ellie and Carl’s house wasn’t built in a day. Add a little frosting on graham crackers and stick on top of the cake to form a roof. Frost the roof with dark frosting.
Add a Pirouline Rolled Wafer cookie under the front left corner of the roof for extra support.
Add the second-floor window portion to the house. Top with a graham cracker roof. Frost. Top the house with the chimney cake piece.
Frost some green grass around the cake stand for Carl’s yard. And now you’re ready to go up, up and away!
Off to Paradise Falls!
What gingerbread house creation will you make? Share your photos with us on Instagram using the hashtag #iamcreative and tag @BritandCo. Need even more holiday inspiration? Head to Pinterest STAT.
DIY Production + Styling: Irene Lee
Photography: Kurt Andre