How to Make Gingerbread Castle Decorations

Use candy to add pizzazz to your gingerbread castle.

Gingerbread has been around since the 11th century when European crusaders brought ginger root back from the Middle East to flavor and preserve bread. Europeans eventually began to cut the bread into shapes and added sugar. However, it is believed that gingerbread houses became popular in the 1800's when they were mentioned in Grimm's Fairy Tales. The edible craft eventually migrated to America and remains a 21st century holiday pastime, with gingerbread houses evolving to castles, cottages and many more. Most of the decorations for gingerbread castles are left up to the imagination, but they are most often edible candies. Does this Spark an idea?

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Jelly beans
Gumdrops
Icing tube and tip or icing squeeze bottle
Coconut flakes
Rock candy
Blue food dye
White icing
Colored ice cream cones
Round swirl mints
Spatula or spoon for mixing
Gummy bears
Toothpicks
Paper
Scissors
Tape

Instructions

- 1
  
  Fill in the cracks, corners and edges of your gingerbread castle if you haven't already with white icing from an icing tube and tip or a squeeze bottle. Be generous with the icing so it will be strong enough to hold candy.
- 2
  
  Decorate the white icing cracks between each piece of gingerbread by sticking candies to the icing. Use jelly beans, gumdrops and round swirl mints for a colorful castle.
- 3
  
  Mix a few drops of blue food die with white frosting and place into a decorating tube.
- 4
  
  Form one or more misshapen circles with an icing tube filled with blue icing, on the grounds of the castle (the base on which you constructed the gingerbread castle). Fill the circles in with the blue icing to form the appearance of ponds.
- 5
  
  Line the ponds with rock candy to form the appearance of dams.
- 6
  
  Sprinkle coconut flakes on the remainder of the base of the gingerbread castle to create the appearance of snow.
- 7
  
  Line the perimeter of the base of the castle with colored ice cream cones to act as a castle wall. On top of each cone, place a mint and then a gummy bear. The gummy bears represent castle guards on the lookout.
- 8
  
  Cut out a small diamond shape from a piece of paper, folded in half to make a triangle shaped flag, and attach the flag to a toothpick with tape. Stick the flag into the roof of the castle. Repeat for additional flags.