Gingerbread Pyramid

Warning.... many pictures to follow!

We began working on our gingerbread creation Sunday Nov. 4 and had to turn it in Sunday, Nov. 11.  Here is a photo journal of our family's tribute to downtown Memphis!

Cooking our gingerbread... this is the first year we actually cooked our own gingerbread.  The previous three years, we just used a kit with pre-made gingerbread to piece together what we wanted to build.  But, the kids wanted to build the Memphis Pyramid; unfortunately, there was no kit with triangle shaped gingerbread!

Susanna helping to roll out the dough.

Here is the square for our base.

Tim is our design engineer!  He is cutting paper to be the pattern for our shapes.

Eli and Tim building a trolley car out of graham crackers.

Susanna entertained us as we built!

Putting the base together.  We realized we needed a block for the Pyramid to sit on so we could build a bridge for the trolley to go under (wanted to be somewhat authentic)!

Painting the Mississippi river behind the Pyramid with melted chocolate candy.

Icing the triangle sides of the Pyramid with white royal icing.  Then, we sprayed it with silver food coloring spray. 

Shiny, silver sprinkles!

We all love sprinkles!

Making a peppermint curb along the road outside the Pyramid.

Gluing the sides together. We ended up having to put foam core under each side to make sure the middles didn't collapse once it was built.  We also learned that hot glue did not stick to the homemade gingerbread.  Good old Elmer's Glue did the trick!

Pretzel steps from the street to the bridge.

Painting the parking lot with melted candies we colored gray.

Tim built a bicycle using a hanger and wheel pasta and a candy corn seat!  Then he painted the hanger pieces with melted candy we painted red.

Icing the trolley track area to prep for "gravel" (clear rock candy).

Putting the gravel down for the track.

Laying down licorice string for the track.

And, the thing is done!!!!

Lots of fun!  We were definitely ready to turn it in before it broke!!!!!

This Saturday the Enchanted Forest opens with Santa arriving on a helicopter!