Step 1

Preheat your oven to 180C (360F).

Step 2

Sieve the flour, cinnamon, and ginger into a bowl and stir in the brown sugar.

Step 3

Pour in the melted dairy-free butter and combine everything into a thick dough with a wooden spoon.

Step 4

Divide the dough into 4 parts and roll out the first part on non-stick baking parchment to about 5mm thickness. Place your gingerbread house shapes on top and cut them out of the dough. Add the leftover dough to the next quarter and continue until you have cut 2 of all shapes required. Bake in the preheated oven at 180C for 8-9 minutes, then remove and allow for all parts to cool down and harden for at least an hour.

Step 5

In the meantime, you can create additional gingerbread decorations for your house – roll out the dough and cut out trees, stars, gingerbread men, and co using cookie cutters. Bake them for 8-9 minutes also and allow them to cool.

Step 6

Once your gingerbread is all cooled, make sure your edges are straight and carefully ‘shave’ them with a knife if needed.

Step 7

Start making your icing: Place the aquafaba in a large mixing bowl and whip it with an electric mixer for roughly 5-6 minutes or until it starts forming stiff peaks. Add in the vanilla extract and swiftly combine, then start adding your icing sugar in batches. You should aim for a thick, but smooth texture for your icing.

Step 8

Transfer your icing to a large piping bag with a round nozzle and start assembling your gingerbread house: Start with the back and one sidewall. Add a thick line of icing onto the bottom of your back wall and gently place it aside without the bottom touching, whilst you add icing to the bottom and back edge of the sidewall. Place the back wall upright onto the back of your cake board, then place the sidewall upright into position with the edges touching. Gently press both walls onto the board and together, if needed use some tins to hold them in place whilst they’re drying. Add the second sidewall in the same manner and for the front add icing to the bottom edge and onto the front edges of both sidewalls. To give it extra stability, carefully squeeze icing into the inside edges of your gingerbread house. Allow for everything to set and dry for at least an hour before continuing. In the meantime, you can decorate your gingerbread cookies to use in the decoration later on!

Step 9

Once all set and dry, remove the tins (if used) and assemble the roof. It’s best to have something nearby that matches the height of your sidewalls, so you can rest your roof panels on there whilst they’re drying (I used 2 large glasses and lids). Add icing onto the top edges of all walls and place your roof panels on top. Squeeze more icing into the gap onto the top and allow for the roof to set for 30 minutes, before making a careful start on your decorations – I recommend starting on the front, back and side decorations, then going to surrounding areas and leaving the roof decor for the end, so it has a little extra time to set. Be careful not to knock it in the meantime.

Step 10

Get creative with your decor! You can – like me – stick to icing only, but feel free to go all out, add chocolate buttons, different colour icing, sprinkles, edible glitter, vegan smarties, marshmallows, biscuits – the options are endless!