Where to Find an Entire Gingerbread City in London

Prepare to be envious, smitten and perhaps a bit hungry after you see some impressively sweet gingerbread houses here in London.

We recently headed over to the V&A Museum, which is hosting the third annual Museum of Architecture’s Gingerbread City. This exhibition invites local architects, designers and engineers to create an entire city made of gingerbread, royal icing, sweets and other edible delights.

Since I work as a pastry chef, I was desperate to see this tasty exhibit, but all the weekend slots were always sold out. I work erratic hours so can’t always plan in advance to attend exhibits like this. Previously, we had missed the Winnie the Pooh and Frida Kahlo exhibitions, so we finally signed up to become V&A members. As members, we can see any exhibit for free and there’s no need to book a reservation in advance. Winning!

The V&A membership isn’t cheap, but we figured it’s something we will take advantage of and take guests with us when they visit London.

The Gingerbread City is a delight to one’s senses as the crowded room is filled with the pleasing scent of cinnamon and ginger and visually the flickering Christmas lights. I oohed and awed my way around the room admiring the use of tic tacs, liquorice ropes, marshmallows, Life Savers and other sweets for decorations as well as the crafty way of using professional gelatin sheets to create window panes. If you love to bake, then you should definitely see this exhibit, which continues through January 6^th.

If you can’t hop on a plane to see Gingerbread City, then I hope you’ll enjoy my photos in this post. Now, if only I had a computer program and laser cutter to make my gingerbread house designs. Perhaps, next year.

Merry Christmas from London!

Which gingerbread building is your favorite?

Clever use of gelatin sheets for window panes here at the Recover Bee Centre.

I really like this one as it’s designed by the Zaha Hadid Architects in London.

http://www.zaha-hadid.com/ Zaha Mohammad Hadid, an Iraqi-British architect who died in 2016, is well-known for her interesting architectural designs around the world such as the London Olympic Aquatics Centre and the Guangzhou Opera House in China. She was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 2004, and she received the UK's most prestigious architectural award, the Stirling Prize, in 2010 and 2011.

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