HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-12-09, Page 33k
Patrtin
Last year, Pat Martin of Goderich made
some gingerbread houses, decorated them
with icing and candies and gave them to
her friends as Christmas gifts. Her friends
were so delighted with- them that she
began to wonder if other people would like
them as well.
As an experiment, she put five of the
little houses on display at Bluewater
Market on Britannia Road, just up the
street from her home. They- sold quickly
and soon requests for more came flooding
in. With the help of her family, she was
able to make and sell 65 of the edible
houses in 10 days.
This year, Pat decided to make more
houses and sell them through Bluewater
Market again. Appropriately she calls her
little enterprise, ' Pat -a -cakes'.
It takes several hours to make one house
and at $9.95 per house, Pat isn't reim-
bursed much for her labor but she says, "I
enjoy making them and as long as people
enjoy having them, I'll keep on making
them."
Pat took a cake decorating course from
Judy Woodall in town two years ago and
has a whole photo album full of pictures of
beautiful cake creations which she has
made for every occassion under the sun.
When she and Judy attended a two hour
course at Cakery Decor in London, she saw
a gingerbread house being made.
"I didn't realize how easy they were to
make until I saw one being done," she
says.
And it wasn't long before she was ex-
perimenting with her own, starting out
with graham cracker creations before
advancing to actual gingerbread.
Pat uses white styrofoam meat trays as
a base on which to build her houses. Then
she makes her gingerbread (see recipe)
and rolls it out like dough right onto a pan.
She cuts this gingerbread into the shapes
of doors, windows, walls and chimneys
using paper patterns of these shapes as her
guide. The gingerbread is then cooked and
thoroughly cooled.
Her special icing (see recipe) is used
like glue to assemble the house and it can
be used to cover up a lot of mistakes too. It
is applied with a pastry bag.
The pastry bag is the key to successful
cake decorating, explains Pat, but it is not
a common household tool.
Always looking for a good buy on candies
with which to decorate her houses, Pat
also has special molds into which she can
ares her in
put melted chocolate to make such things
as Christmas wreaths,' snowmen, bells,
Santa Cla uses etc.
Some variations on decorating with
candy include a toy . cake which is
decorated with small non-toxic plastic toys
for children and a pickle cake which is
jokingly decorated with dill pickles for
expectant mothers.
Following is Pat's gingerbread house
and royal icing recipe which she gladly
shares.
ROYAL ICING
one-third Cup water
one heaping tablespoon meringue powder
one pound icing sugar
Make sure all equipment is grease free.
Beat the meringue powder and water until
frothy. Add half of the sugar and slowly
`beat. Add remaining sugar slowly until
icing is stiff enough to stand to a two inch
peak. It should be similar to toothpaste
consistency and a little stiffer if anything.
Cover with a damp (notdrippy) cloth in an
airtight container.
GRANDMA'S GINGERBREAD
five to51 cups of all-purpose flour
one teaspoon of baking soda
oneteaspoon of salt .
two teaspoons of ginger
two teaspoons of cinnamon
one teaspoon of nutmeg
one teaspoon of cloves
one cup of shortening
one cup of sugar
11/4 cups of molasses
two eggs, beaten -
Thoroughly mix flour, soda, salt and
spices. Melt shortening in large saucepan.
Add sugar, molasses and eggs. Mix well.
Cool slightly and then add dry ingredients
and mix well. Chill and then bring to room
temperature and roll.
Turn mixture onto lightly floured sur-
face. Knead slightly and roll dough to Vs
inch thickness. Cut out house pieces with
knife. Place on greased cookie sheets with
spatula
Bake at 375 degrees F for eight to ten
minutes depending on size. Let cool on
cookie sheet a few minutes before
removing to cool completely.
Assemble using royal icing as "glue".
Decorate while icing is still wet using your
favorite cereals, candies and nuts, etc.
This recipe makes two houses plus about
18 cookies.
1
GODERICH SIGNAL-LSTAR, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9,1981 --PAGE 13A
erbread house success
These are the different shapes of gingerbread used by Pat Martin to make her gingerbread
houses. After cooking them in the oven and allowing them to cool, they are assembled with
icing which is used as glue.
Story and
photos by
Joanne
Buchanan
A pastry bag is the key to successful cake decorating, says Pat Martin of Goderich. Here,
she uses such a tool to decorate the roof of one of her gingerbread houses with Mug.
Give her something warm
and wonderful that
will make being at
home more merry!
Fleece for her
hearth side hours...
or a pile wrap for
extra warmth.
Come see
our collection.
Pat Martin is busy making gingerbread houses to sell at Bluewater days. Here, she poses with a few she has made so far this year. She
Market again this Christmas. Last year she made and sold 65 in 10 calls her little enterprise, "Pat -a -Cakes'.
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