Pastry chefs wow with edible holiday decorations

Gingerbread houses across the nation are suffering from a serious case of envy over the creations showcased in a recent Forbes article about amazing edible decorations from talented pastry chefs. While these displays are made from gingerbread, chocolate, and other foods, they are not meant to be eaten. Some of them take months to complete, only to be viewed for a few weeks before they are disassembled and discarded.

From the incredible Airstream trailer replica from Four Seasons Austin pictured above to a life-size gingerbread house to a 15-foot tall Dr. Seuss-inspired Whoville display, these artistic masterpieces contain mind-boggling amounts of gingerbread, icing, and fondant. The Whoville gingerbread house is composed of “2,500 gingerbread bricks, 60 gallons of pink Royal WHO Icing, 225 pounds of melted white and pink chocolate, 1,000 pieces of assorted sweets and candies and 500 pounds of WHO HASH.” I am not sure what WHO HASH is, but I am sure the Grinch would love it.

All of the displays in the article come from pastry chefs working in large hotels that have massive kitchens – can you imagine the oven space needed to make 4,500 gingerbread bricks? When you consider these are probably made in between baking for holiday parties, meetings, and even conventions, the construction is even more impressive. I feel satisfied if I can kludge together a cookie tray to take to the office, much less something as amazing as these displays.