Nutcracker castle gingerbread house
I have many fond memories of watching The Nutcracker ballet at Christmastime, so I wanted to make a Nutcracker themed gingerbread house. There are so many memorable characters in The Nutcracker, but my favorite are the Nutcracker himself and the evil Mouse King, so of course they had to be included! With regal gold accents and a jewel tone color palette, this gingerbread house is bright and cheerful!
The Nutcracker is made of gum paste, and I painted the crown and pants gold with gold luster dust and edible gold paint to add that additional shimmer.
The tree is one of my favorite elements! The stars on the tree are painted using gold luster dust mixed with vodka. I also added gold disco dust to the stars for super sparkle!
The Mouse King is getting ready for a battle!
The snowflake windows are made of isomalt. I take raw isomalt, cook it, and then add gel paste (sky blue in this case) to get the desired shade. You can also purchase already colored pieces of isomalt that just need to be melted.
With the lights turned on, the tree is really highlighted. On the top of the castle it looks like the Mouse King is going to leap down and ambush the Nutcracker.
Having the tree set back in the house was a design choice that required some planning. I knew I wanted to be able to see into the house, but then I would need a backdrop, otherwise the raw gingerbread behind the tree would distract from everything. The solution was lasagna! The “window” behind the tree is a dry sheet of Trader Joe’s lasagna. I love the warmth that lasagna has when lit up, so I use it often on my gingerbread houses.
The trees are made of gum paste and royal icing “snow” is painted onto the edges.
Here are a few shots from the making of this house. the supports are sheets of lasagna. You can see the outline of the lasagna supports in the photo on the right. The roof is also lasagna, and then I added a layer of gingerbread on top of that.
Here’s the gingerbread house under construction. The photo at right shows the house almost complete, but missing the snowflakes topping the spires.
The snowflakes are made using a small snowflake plunge cutter. I let the gum paste snowflakes dry and then used Pixie Dust Disco Dust to add sparkle.
The trees are gum paste and as is the gift shown at right. The royal icing ribbon is piped and then painted with edible gold paint.
One goal I had for this house, was to be able to light up the snowflake towers that flank the castle. This was a challenge because the towers are very slender and needed a small light to fit inside. I couldn’t use the accessories lights that I usually use on my houses. I found these button battery operated fairy lights on Amazon! I wrapped the lights onto bubble tea straws so that I could easily slide them into the towers. The perfect fit!
You can see the light peeking through the tiny gaps in the isomalt.
The Pixie Dust Disco Dust is a glittery finishing touch!
Hope you enjoyed this gingerbread castle, and I hope you have a chance to see The Nutcracker this holiday season! Happy holidays!
XO~Sarah
