Vegan Gingerbread House Cake
This is the ultimate showstopper Vegan Gingerbread House Cake that is perfect for the holidays! Oil-free, gluten-free vegan gingerbread house cookies and layered with a delicious vanilla buttercream frosting and the best vegan royal icing!
Servings: 8 -10 people
Ingredients
- vegan vanilla buttercream frosting (RECIPE BELOW)
- 1 vegan gingerbread cake recipe
- 1/2 batch vegan royal icing
- 1 batch vegan gingerbread cookies
- decorative sprinkles or anything extra you may want to use to decorate
- color to dye some of the icing, if desired. I like Trucolor, but use whatever you like. Not all are vegan, so be sure to check.
- Piping bags and tips. You will need a tiny tip to decorate the cookies.
FROSTING FOR THE CAKE AND "GLUE" FOR THE HOUSE
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (216g) Spectrum shortening (SEE NOTES) softened, room temp
- 6 tablespoons (84g) vegan Earth Balance butter stick softened, room temp
- 3 3/4 cups (570g) powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla powder
NOTE
- Please weigh ingredients for accuracy, super important for baking, especially a project like this. The icing and frosting has to be precise, so the texture works properly.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- PLEASE refer to the actual post and read everything, so you are informed. I've included step by step instructions, details and photos, to help with the process. This will be much easier to follow than putting it all here.
- I used the same recipe as my original gingerbread cake, which is an 8x8 square cake. To make this into a 3 layer cake, the recipe amount only works in three 6 inch cakes, which is still plenty of cake after it's all said and done. If you want a larger cake, I'd suggest doubling the cake recipe.
- Make the gingerbread cake, as instructed.
- Make the gingerbread cookies as instructed in the link above and following my template in the post if making the gingerbread house. This is only for a mini size, as pictured. If wanting to make a larger one, you will have to multiply to how large you want it.
- Make the frosting recipe listed above. This is a bit different than my original recipe, so that it is more stable. Beat together the shortening and butter until smooth. Add the sugar in slowly, beating in small amounts, until fully mixed, thick and fluffy. Add the vanilla and briefly beat it in. You will need this amount to frost the 3 layer cake as I have in the photos, plus put together a mini gingerbread house.
- Make the vegan royal icing. For decorating the cookies, I used a tiny tip for the gingerbread men and dots on the house pieces.
- Remember you are using the buttercream frosting to glue the house together along the seams, not the royal icing. The frosting is also what is the snow on the outside of the house, Since this needs to be a bit thicker (so it holds) than the piping decorations, I just used a ziplock bag and snipped off the corner a 1/4 inch to pipe along the seams to hold each piece, and also on the outside for the snow.
- Chill the gingerbread house to firm up until ready to place on top of the cake.
Notes
- SHORTENING: Please note that I highly recommend using the Spectrum shortening. It is sold in many stores or online. The ONLY ingredient is palm fruit oil. I don't recommend Crisco, as it is multiple oils and ingredients, mainly soybean oil and will affect the texture outcome likely and be more greasy. The shortening cannot be subbed for coconut oil or more butter here, or the structure will not work as well.
- TIME: I really had to guess on the time that it takes to do all of this, since I worked on it on and off for a day, since I have a daughter in school. Making the cake and the cookies is very quick, as is mixing up a batch of frosting and royal icing. The part where time becomes a factor, is the waiting on the cookies to cool the cake to cool, icing the cookies, the cake, etc. Everybody works at a different pace when decorating cookies and cake, so keep that in mind.