Gingerbread pieces lessons learned!

The various panels of gingerbread have been piped with icing with some  bits and pieces to have a little flood filling but there’s really not much of that to do. The large panels and trees will go around the cake. Next year I’ll make a square cake and that will make life easier… until then, however…

There were several lessons learned in the making of this gingerbread, namely:

1. Do not use molasses sugar in the gingerbread mix – it doesn’t dissolve in molten butter and leaves lumps like cowpats in the mix.
2. Do not use molasses sugar in the mix because it spoils the colour and makes the gingerbread too dark.
3. Do not bake the gingerbread on foil fused with parchment – it curls up and ruckles the edges of the gingerbread.
4. Use a piping nozzle – No 2 – in a piping bag and don’t be persuaded to snick the end off a freezer bag to make do because you can’t be arsed to dig out the tub of icing equipment.
5. Check the consistency of the icing by test piping on anything before you start on the gingerbread.
6. I know I said to mark out the design by pricking through paper, etc, but really, actually make the effort to do it. I didn’t and made it all up as I went along. Would have been so much easier if I’d made myself some guidelines.
7. There is absolutely NOTHING to stop you from taking a sharp knife and trimming the gingerbread to sharpen the definition of the shapes. I wish I had, especially to trim off some slightly burned edges.

All said, though, it wasn’t hard to do but will cut the templates out from quilting plastic for next year and have a sturdier template to cut around.

So, a very happy new year to you all from the ghost of Christmas Cake Past!