Gingerbread Project

One of my team members.

One of the boards that the project would eventually go on.

That's me in the background .

Richard and I took the Classical Chocolates & Pastries class at Ivy Tech this semester together. We got to work on the Gingerbread Project for it. The inspiration for what our buildings would look like we took from a page in history: Downtown Muncie in the 1930's. Richard got to work with the group that would do the Muncie Courthouse. I was in the group that did the Pazols building. Now any time I mentioned "Gingerbread Project" the first response was almost always "Make me one" or "Bring me some gingerbread" or "How Cute". After the first day I would roll my eyes and say "No, you don't understand. These buildings are not small!" I would then explain that my dimensions on my building were 14x16 and 21" inches tall. Crazy. Richard built a foundation for his building which turned out to be way too heavy. I lifted that thing from the curb to the classroom. That thing is heavy!!!! He took the project to his dad and together they created an awesome foundation for the courthouse. Bonus that it was lightweight too!!!! My project I was kind of not sure how this was going to work. I measured out templates on parchment paper. The following week I cut out cardboard from the template. We rolled out gingerbread and cut out the windows and such. We ended up covering ours with Marzipan. One side was red-colored marzipan with a brick pattern. We painted it with black food coloring. The other sides were also marzipan but we spray painted with a yellow tint.We worked hard on it every week. We even worked the Wednesday before Thanksgiving  which normally was our Thanksgiving break. All to end up delivering on November 30 to the Minnestrista Cultural Center. It will be on Display there until the end of December.  

Richard and his group working on the Court House.

Richard putting some touches on the building.

My builiding: a work in progress.

These pictures are from the Muncie Star Press article on November 24, 2011.

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Historic Muncie returns in gingerbread form

The edible recreations of classic local buildings are the work of Ivy Tech culinary arts students

MUNCIE -- Ball Stores, the old Delaware County Courthouse and the late, lamented Rivoli Theater are rising again, thanks to Ivy Tech Community College culinary students.

Of course, instead of brick and stone, they're made out of gingerbread.

"My students have spent close to 1,000 hours on this project," said chef Melissa Lash, whose Classical Pastries and Chocolate class is heading the effort, which also encompasses the Hotel Roberts, plus the Patterson and Pazol's buildings. "It's coming along quite nicely."

The latest installment in what is an annual gingerbread enterprise that dates back to Lash's days as a student, this year's theme is "traditional Christmas," a paean to "old historic Muncie."

Specifically, she explained, that means Muncie of the 1930s.

"We really have researched a lot," she continued. "We're trying to replicate the buildings as close as possible."

As a kitchen full of students wearing white smocks and caps worked on the project recently, the challenges of turning gingerbread into buildings -- even little, edible buildings -- was obvious in their contortions, comments and looks of concentration.

"They're not easy," said Lash, who was overseeing the process, noting the efforts they take to make the buildings architecturally sound. "We've all had our struggles along the way. It'll be really neat when it's done."

While the buildings' interiors include some support material that you wouldn't want to eat, in the overall scheme of things, the structures are food.

"They're all made out of edible items," Lash said, noting the sides are gingerbread with other goodies like meringue, marzipan and gum paste also utilized in the final product. "For the most part, you could take them apart and eat them."

For the record, though, don't plan on sneaking a fork past the Ivy Tech bakers and dining on a nice big slab of the reincarnated Ball Stores.

The gingerbread buildings will soon be delivered to the main lobby of the Minnetrista cultural center, where they will be on display for a week or two, attracting particular attention when visitors pour in from the Enchanted Luminaria Walk.

Having reached that point, Lash and her students can relax a bit and take satisfaction in a job well done.

"It really is an enjoyable project," the chef said.

Contact feature writer John Carlson at 213-5824.