gingerbreadlady

[loves to eat]

I am making an 18 foot gingerbread display for a non profit Botanical Garden in December. It will be a winter scene and I need tons of edible snow that will last 2 months.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[Lisa Shock]

Royal icing will last for decades. It's never going to be fluffy and scoopable, but you can pipe it on as well as texturize it with tools. It makes good icicles, too.

 

Dry coconut can be used on bases and such to give more of a 3D effect, it will blow around if there's too much of a breeze, but I think it's a good option.

 

You can make some items, like snowmen, from pressed sugar -the sort people make easter egg displays from. These can last quite a while if left untouched.

 

If you make sugar windows, painting snow drifts on them is useful, use white colored, white chocolate. In general, hot boiled sugar is a great glue for the whole project. It is strong and sets quickly. Just take care while piping, don't get burned!

Good luck!

[Kerry Beal]

You could put these over your royal icing as well.

[Tri2Cook]

8 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

You could put these over your royal icing as well.

Those are nice for the snowy areas on gingerbread displays. I find the flakes to be a bit large for the effect I want so I give them a quick spin in a spice grinder to break them up some. Not to a powder but to a smaller particle size that still gives a nice fresh-snow sparkle when light hits it.

[loves to eat]

Thanks for the replies.

How hard is it to make the eggs?

I plan to make rock sugar candy in different sizes too.

This was part of the display from last year.

[Lisa Shock]

We made the eggs in home-ec when I was in jr high, so not so difficult. You just need a steady hand, and an awareness that you will probably break a few. Essentially, you just lightly wet some sugar with a few drops of water/color and then pack into a stiff mold, and allow it to dry. Components get attached with royal icing.

 

That's quite the display, I can see why you're starting now.

 

You can always make all sorts of things in marzipan (better for fine detail), pastillage,  or fondant. You should run tests or make your own marzipan, though. I made the mistake once of taking some lovely canned marzipan in a #10 can to a competition only to discover that it would not harden.

Edited March 8, 2018 by Lisa Shock (log)