Gingerbread House (Part 2- Decorating and Building)

Ok so here it is part two of the gingerbread house post, a quick how-to on being a builder.

For the Royal Icing

1 kg icing sugar

5 tablespoons meringue powder

1/2 cup water (approximately)

To make the Royal Icing- Beat the icing sugar, meringue powder and water with an electric mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix for about 7 minutes on low speed until the icing is smooth. If the icing is a bit too thick add a little more water one teaspoon at a time. If it is too thin add a bit more icing sugar one tablespoon at a time, beat again until smooth.

I spent weeks looking for different kinds of candy to decorate my gingerbread house, but ended up not using any of it. Instead of covering my house with candy like I intended I kept things simple and pretty in pink, using only royal icing, pink candy canes and some sprinkles.
To pipe on the details onto the walls of the house I used a fine tipped squeezy bottle filled with royal icing. For the larger details on the roof I used a squeezy bottle but trimmed the end to give a larger opening.I added a bit of extra sparkle to the snow details on the roof, chimney and above the windows, sprinkling on white sugar while the royal icing was still wet.
To build the gingerbread house- Firstly find something big enough to build it on, I used my big white cake stand and it only just fit.

Starting with one of the wall pieces, pipe a line of royal icing along one edge and along the bottom of the gingerbread. Position the wall on the base. Use something square like a cake tin to hold it up while you prepare the next piece.

Pipe a line of icing along the bottom of the back wall piece of the house and adhere to the pre-iced edge of the side wall. Allow to set.

Attach the second side wall with a line of icing along the bottom and on the connecting edge and leave set. Once set pipe royal icing along the front edges of both of the walls and a line along the base where the front of the house will sit.
Press on the front of the house and allow the royal icing to set hard before attaching the roof.
Pipe royal icing along the top edge of one of the walls and the edges of the roof.
Press on one half of the roof and hold until stable, it wont take too long.
Repeat with the icing and the other side of the roof. Allow all of the royal icing to set.
Pipe a decorative line along each edge to hide the joins in the gingerbread. Lastly glue the chimney to the roof with a little more royal icing.
There were trees and people to go with the house, but it turned out a whole lot bigger than I imagined and they wouldn't fit and got eating in the process.

All eaten! Um nom nom.