If you read my previous blog on Gingerbread houses and found yourself agreeing with me, you’ll love this way of creating a tasty, moist and completely edible Gingerbread House!
Cake
- 1 C Olive Oil
- 5 C Flour
- 2 C Hot Water
- 4 tsp Baking Soda
- 4 tsp Ground Ginger
- 4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1.5 tsp Ground Cloves
- 1.5 tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1 tsp Salt
- 4 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 C Brown Sugar
- 2 C Molasses
- ½ C Mayonaise (NOT Miracle Whip, just Mayo. Trust me on this.)
- 4 Eggs
2 Tubs Prepared Vanilla frosting
Candy for decorating
1. Heat oven to 350°. Grease 2-8×8” square baking pans; set aside. In a large bowl, combine boiling water and baking soda. Then add remaining ingredients, eggs last. Mix well, either by hand with a spoon or with an electric mixer.
2. Pour half the batter into the two pans. (You should still have half the batter remaining in the bowl. Set aside.) Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool.
3. Once you can safely remove the cakes from their pans, do so. Once they are cool enough, trim them so that their tops are level. (Give the trimmings to your kids or husband.) Apply enough vanilla frosting to the trimmed top of one to attach the second cake. You should now have a square, two-layer cake. Cover with plastic wrap and place carefully in your freezer.
4. Carefully wash, dry and grease the two baking pans. Pour the remaining batter in the pans and bake, trim and attach as before. You should now have two square, two-layer cakes.
5. Once the frozen cake is very cool but not frozen, remove it from the freezer. Using a long, serrated knife, carefully cut your roof from the frozen cake. The easiest way to do this is to measure and then place a toothpick in the center at each end of the cake; then carefully cut your roof angle by slicing at an angle from top center to one bottom corner. Do the same for the other side of the roof. Once you have done this, you should have a nicely pitched roof and two triangles of cake set aside. Feel free to sample the triangles or give them to waiting children.
6. Carefully cover and refrigerate your square cake “house” and cover and freeze your “roof” until it is frozen solid. While waiting for the roof to freeze, prepare your candy decorations and decorator icing.
7. When the roof is frozen, carefully add a layer of frosting to the top of the square “house” section and place the roof squarely on top. Cover the entire cake with a liberal layer of frosting.
8. Now the fun starts! Call the family in and start decorating your gingerbread house!