Woodland gingerbread bird house

As some of you may remember, last year I made a gingerbread bird house as a Secret Santa gift (you can read more about it here). Well my friend, who I am organizing the Woodland themed baby shower for, hinted how much she liked gingerbread so it only seemed fitting to make her a Woodland themed Gingerbread house! I also thought it would make a great centre piece for the Woodland themed dessert table.

I made my own pattern this time. Click to open separately ready to print.



Gingerbread bird house & toadstools

Ingredients
250g unsalted butter
200g dark muscovado sugar
600g plain flour
7 tbsp golden syrup
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tsp ground ginger

Cooking instructions

1. Heat oven to 180 deg C
2. Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan.
3. Mix the flour, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.
4. Slowly add the melted butter mix to the flour mix to form a dough.
5. Roll dough out to about 8mm thick on to baking paper.
6. Cut out front, then cut small circle out of front.
7. Cut out back.
8. Cut out two roofs.
9. Cut out two sides.
10. Cut out toadstools using cookie cutter.
11. Slide cut pieces still on the baking paper on to baking trays.
12. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes or until firm to the touch.
13. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then re-cut round edges to neaten.
14. Leave to completely cool.

Decorating the Bird House

Ingredients
Roll on icing (white, pale aqua, lilac)
Icing sugar (powdered sugar)
Royal icing
M&M's in pale pink, aqua
Food colouring

To decorate

1. Dust icing sugar onto a hard clean surface and roll out icing to 3mm thick.
2. Cut out house components in icing.
3. Brush water onto back of cut out icing component and place on top of corresponding gingerbread piece. Repeat until all gingerbread pieces are iced.
4. Make up royal icing as per instructions on packet, and spoon into piping bag with a small nozzle at the end.
5. To build the base, hold the front and one of the sides of the house upright together in one hand to form a corner and with the other hand pipe icing down the inside of the corner and hold together until icing starts to set. Repeat until you have formed a box. Leave to set.
6. On the back of one iced roof, pipe icing in a small line round the outside edge. Place on top of gingerbread iced box and hold until icing starts to set. Repeat with second roof piece. Leave to dry.
7. Place house onto a cake board and using a star nozzle on the end of your piping bag, pipe small star shapes around the bottom of the house between the cake board and the house.
8. Continue piping star shapes along all of the outside joins of the house, leaving the top of the roof until last so you can push M&M's into the icing along the top.
9. Pipe small stars in rows across the roof and push M&Ms into icing.

The ivy, ladybirds and berries are made of petal paste which I added food colouring to, to get the desired colours. To make the ivy I used Ivy Leaf Plunger Cutters, for the berries and ladybirds I used Bas relief moulds, bugs, small and fruit and nut. I couldn't believe how easy petal paste was to use, you just take a small piece of it and push it into the mould and then push it out of the mould and voila! you have perfectly shaped ladybugs, berries and so much more! To stick the berries bugs and ivy to the house use a small dab of royal icing.

Have a sweet day!