Crafting in Gingerbread

Food artist Nancy Baker works on a gingerbread house at Homestead Gardens in Severna Park. Photo: Keri Luise.

By Keri Luise

Cookies, candy canes, gumdrops and more, Christmas is the season for delicious treats. But some sweets do double duty as building materials.

Local food artist, Nancy Baker, assembled a homemade gingerbread house in front of guests at Homestead Gardens in Severna Park on Sunday adding her signature “wow factor” into holiday baking.

According to Baker (a well-fit name for this savvy food artist), her goal with the festive project was to “create a classic type gingerbread house—very wintery themed— lots of ice and snow.”

She baked the house’s structure ahead of time so that it would be stable, and then assembled and embellished at the event.

Whether it is sculpting a pumpkin, carving a cheese block, creating a bacon bust or assembling a gingerbread home, Baker is a uniquely versatile food artist as well as an art teacher at South River High School in Edgewater.

But, Baker says “gingerbread is one of my newer mediums in which to work…Working with sticky stuff is my least favorite but I am always up for a challenge.”

Baker has created food art pieces for many top companies including Busch Gardens, Sea World,Disney Marvel, CBS Sports, Hello Fresh, Total Wine and many more. She was also featured in the competitive TV show “Halloween Wars” on Food Network and will be appearing on Foodtastic, streaming on Disney+ Dec. 15.

While Baker assembled and decorated her gingerbread house at Homestead, she offered helpful gingerbread house-making tips to visitors passing by.

“Whether you are creating a gingerbread house for eating or just for show, do most of your decorating before putting it together,” Baker says. “That way it sets up [and] dries before you upright the walls…[And of course], never stop playing with your food.”

As Baker piped frosting around an ice cream cone to make an innovative pine tree, viewers “ooh” and “ahh” at her sugary festive treat.

“How do you keep from eating the ingredients?” one man asks. “It’s so beautiful!” a young girl cheers out.

One family, Brian, Kate and Bradley Dalgliesh, came straight to Homestead after a soccer game to see Baker at work.

“We did pick up a few insider tips that we’ll have to incorporate,” Brian Dalgliesh said. “Like these Nerd ropes that she uses for garland, so that it’s all connected and she just puts it up [on the roof]. And gelatin sheets for the windows.”

“We have a [gingerbread house] kit at home but we haven’t made it yet. It will not look as snazzy as [this one],” Brian says. “It’s the tiny things that make it slightly different and so special.”

If you didn’t get a chance to catch Baker building her jolly creation, it will remain on display at Homestead Gardens in Severna Park. But, you can also see all sorts of gingerbread creations at the Darnall’s Chance House Museum’s 22nd annual Gingerbread House Contest and Show for the next two weekends this month.

Visitors can stop by the museum in Upper Marlboro to view a unique display of edible gingerbread creations. Contestants from the region built one-of-a-kind gingerbread structures and submitted them just before Thanksgiving in three divisions—adult, child, and family.

According to Museum Director Susan Reidy, over the years the contest and show has had almost every kind of gingerbread creation you could think of.

“We’ve had New York City with Godzilla going through the middle of the street blowing fire and cruising the buildings, we’ve had sailboats, we’ve had the Eiffel Tower, we’ve had carousels that spin, we’ve had an advent calendar, we’ve had a wreath,” Reidy says. “You name it, if you can think of it we’ve probably had it.”

According to Reidy, a panel of three judge the contending creations “on very specific criteria” and award nine winners—three in each division—with ribbons and a cash prize, and bragging rights.

The gingerbread houses must be original (no kits allowed), must have their major components made of gingerbread, and must be edible. All entries are judged on originality/creativity, overall appearance, use of materials, difficulty of design, and precision.

Aside from the panel of judges, there is also a Viewer’s Choice Award at the annual show.

“With the Viewers Choice Award, the viewers have no criteria, so they just vote for whatever one they fancy, whatever one they think is the prettiest or the biggest, the kids always like to pick one that has lots of candy on it…everybody has their own taste,” Reidy says.

This year, with only 17 contestants (the smallest they’ve ever had), the entires can be seen online, but visitors must come in-person in order to cast votes for the Viewers Choice Award.

“We wanted to offer that if people don’t feel comfortable going out they can at least see the entries this year because many of our visitors have come for every show we have ever had,” Reidy says. “It’s just a great way to bring family and friends [together]…still continuing the holiday spirit.”

View the gingerbread entries: pgparks.com/3059/Gingerbread-Contest-Show.