National Gingerbread House Competition: Tips on building great house, entering event

Anyone can enter the competition. It’s broken down into four categories — adult, teen, youth and child. While the grand champions of the past have been spectacular, part of the fun is just designing and creating an entry, regardless of whether it wins an award or not.

The Omni Grove Park Inn’s executive pastry chef and judge of the National Gingerbread House Competition John Cook shared some tips for those looking to compete. “The three things that every Gingerbread maker needs are: A well measured blueprint or template, an appropriate gingerbread recipe and ingredient list — some recipes are made for great tasting cookies and others are designed more for construction — and a really solid, almost concrete-like royal icing to hold everything together. A piping practice sheet it also a plus so when you take the icing to the house your hand is steady! Just put the sheet in a sleeve protector and practice, practice, practice.”

Cook notes that the most popular gingerbread house entry is a simple A-frame, which is a square frame with a pitched roof. But entries are as diverse as the people creating them.

“The creation should tell a story,” Cook said. “It can be as simple as children visiting Santa, as was the 2020 Grand Prize Winner or a crew of polar bears hanging out. The theme of the piece should inspire you and bring you joy.”

Candy canes and gum-drops rank as the top choice for decorations, but like the design of the house, Cook encourages contestants to let their imagine wander.

“The most unique ingredient I’ve seen used in a competition level house is corn silk (in the 2017 Adult Third Place Winners entry). Corn silk are the fine, silky fibers you find inside the husk of an ear of corn,” Cook said. “It was such an incredible detail to uncover because this one particular competitor actually used the silk to weave a decorative basket. I’ve also seen competitors use grape stems as the framework for trees — you wouldn’t necessarily think to eat those materials, but they are technically edible and would qualify for use in The National Gingerbread House Competition. The innovation we see each year is just amazing.”

If you want to enter, the Omni Grove Park Inn asks contestants to complete the entry forms by Nov. 8. The entries are to be delivered to the Asheville hotel on Nov. 21.

Entries are judged on overall appearance, originality and creativity, difficulty, precision and consistency of theme. For those looking to win a prize, Cook offered this tip.

“When judging The National Gingerbread House Competition at The Omni Grove Park Inn, one of the most important factors is solid craftsmanship; even texture and color of the gingerbread, clean cuts for windows and doors, uniformly shaped walls with straight edges, clean joints where pieces are glued together with icing — the structure needs to be measured and assembled to fit together,” Cook said. “The basics are important. Planning for perfection and making corrections when your pieces need adjustments is clutch – like using a microplane grating tool to shave down uneven wall edges.”

But most importantly he notes, have some fun with it.

All entries will be displayed at the resort this year and even if you don’t create an entry, it’s worth a drive to check out the entries and holiday fun.

“The holidays are synonymous with The Omni Grove Park Inn’s National Gingerbread House Competition, and its public Gingerbread House display, which has brought viewers from around the country to the hotel,” Cook said. “Plus over 80 illuminated trees and vast holiday decorations will be up throughout the Inn. The iconic 36-foot stone fireplaces in the Great Hall provide cozy holiday vibes while overlooking views of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, and all guests enjoy the life-sized Great Gingerbread House located in the lobby where guests can order specialty cocktails, house-made hot chocolates and of course, craft beer.”

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