The Top 10 Most Magnificent Gingerbread McMansions

The 4th annual TOH Gingerbread House contest is well under way (hurry, and get baking and building-you can still enter by December 19th)! Here are 10 unbelievable and edible abodes that will inspire you to create the NEXT TOH Gingerbread House Contest Grand Prize-winning masterpiece.

See ALL of the entries so far and enter the 2012 TOH Gingerbread House Contest

1. Winter Wonderland Victorian Palace


"The tools I used were my X-Acto knife to cut out a pattern in foam board and in the gingerbread dough, my Skil saw to cut the platform for the stand, a mouse sander for sanding the plywood stand and the rough edges of gingerbread house, a drill to make holes in the platform to insert lighting, a jigsaw to enlarge holes in platform and to cut baked gingerbread,a Dremel to sand gingerbread edges and refine details. The gingerbread house took 180 hours to prepare and finish. The windows are made with gelatin."

Stephanie S.
West Palm Beach, FL

MORE: Best Holiday Home Lighting Displays

2. GR Chapel
GR Chapel

"This gingerbread house was built for a retirement facility and is a model of their building's front entrance. The landscaping was done mainly in crushed and powdered gingerbread and fondant. The windows panes are linguine."

Annie B.
Raleigh, NC

MORE: World's Wildest Christmas Trees


3. Victorian Christmas

victorian christmas

"This gingerbread house stands four feet tall. 40 pounds of gingerbread and 30 pounds of royal icing are used. I guess you could call it a labor of love."

Eduardo M.
Omaha, NE

MORE: Craziest Homeowner Holiday Disaster Stories III

4. Rusty Masterpiece
Main Street
This house looks so real that you might forget it's less than a foot tall and edible. Its builder crafted the white decorative trim using rolled-out fondant and an X-Acto knife, and created the intricate brickwork with a small paintbrush-and a steady hand. The creation was an entry in The National Gingerbread House Competition & Display.

MORE: The Ultimate Gingerbread House-Making Tool Kit

5. Sugar Castle


The Sugar Castle, displayed in the historic Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco, took over 400 hours to create. Executive Pastry Chef Jean-Francios Houdre was inspired by European architecture and used a variety of tools for this construction, including X-Acto knives, glue guns, and rulers. The piece features a motorized base which allows the castle to slowly rotate. A hole in the base accommodates wires for the lights in the pulled-sugar-paned windows. Houdre recommends that you overbake your gingerbread for about 20 minutes, then leave it to cool in an open oven for about 45 minutes for a sturdier structure.

MORE: 2010 Gingerbread House Contest Winners

6. Gingerbread Castle

Large House
Donna Rorabaugh of Rochester Hills, Michigan, likes to think outside the baker's toolbox when creating her National Gingerbread House competition entries: She uses everything from a X-Acto knife for detailing to sandpaper for smoothing. Every year she takes a week off from work to complete her edible construction project. This fantastical castle incorporates not only gingerbread, but also rice crispy treats and pieces of breakaway chocolate. To finish the piece, Rorabaugh used a wood rasp for beveling corners to allow for a snug fit.

MORE: 2009 Gingerbread House Contest Winners


7. Victorian Rowhouses


Barry C. Parsons has been creating edible reproductions of homes in his neighborhood in Newfoundland for the past two decades, including these Victorian-era rowhouses. His creations take about 50 to 60 hours to complete and have been auctioned off at local school fundraisers. Parsons uses a wood rasp to fit the gingerbread molds together and then pipes the icing shingles onto the roof using a ruler and toothpick. The windows are glazed with caramelized sugar panes.

MORE: 15 Amazing, Award-Winning Gingerbread Houses

8. Hotel Harrington

Hotel Harrington

"This house is the re-creation of a riverside hotel that was torn down in the 1950s to make room for a gas station. I wish I could have seen it, so I tried to recreate its splendor with lots of detail. I used a band saw, Dremel, X-Acto, and I strained my pastry arm on all those windows-but I had a great time!"

Rebecca W.
Potsdam, NY

MORE: 2008 Gingerbread House Contest Winners


9. Unreal Replica
Unreal Replica

"My gingerbread house is a creative replica of my own home; it's something I've always dreamed of doing! The house took about two weeks and 80 hours to create. It measures approximately 30 inches long and is 12 inches wide. It's entirely edible, including the sugar-pane windows. You can spy Santa's hat on the top of one of the chimneys! The local lumber yard cut a piece of plywood as the house's platform and the tools I used include an X-Acto knife, interior lighting, and protractors. Each of the rooms of the house has a decorated Christmas tree to add to the holiday glow. Happy holidays!"

Kerry H.
Madison, CT

MORE: 7 Astounding, Award-Winning Gingerbread Houses


10. San Francisco Houses
Victorian Row Homes

"This made entirely from gingerbread. It weighs about 80 pounds and measures 28 inches by 18 inches by 18 inches. It took a little more than two months to build. The houses feature shiplap and individual pastillage shingles. The windows are gelatin sheets, and the inside figures are made of marzipan. The trees are fondant rolled in granola, then covered in royal icing."

Russ R.
Orinda, CA


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