It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! With sugar plum fairies, holiday parties, and joy all around, this gingerbread house cake recipe fits right in.
I made this adorable and festive sheet cake turned gingerbread house by cutting up a rectangular sheet cake.
The result looks way more festive than the time I spent on it; that’s my kind of holiday dessert.
I am obsessed with everything sweet, tasty, and easy this time of year! Making our Christmas desserts stand out amidst the sea of cookies isn’t always easy.
This gingerbread house cake is always a crowd pleaser, and the kids adore helping to decorate it at Christmas time.
Here’s the recipe for the cake and instructions on cutting it into a house and decorating it below.
Gingerbread House Cake
Equipment
- 1 sheet parchment paper
- Downloadable Gingerbread house sheet cake template
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cake
- 1 Box Betty Crocker Gingerbread Cake Mix
- 2 Eggs
- 1 ¼ cup water
Cream Cheese Icing
- 4 oz cream cheese at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Mix all the cake ingredients together and place in greased sheet pan.
- Bake for 35 minutes in a pre-heated 325 degree oven. Allow cake to fully cool.
- Mix the cream cheese icing ingredients with a hand mixer, whip until light and fluffy.
- Use the parchment paper outline for cutting gingerbread house cake to create your houses and decorate.
I’ve brought this Christmas sheet cake to every party this season. It’s easy, delicious, and SO CUTE! Watch here to see how we cut up an everyday sheet cake to bring this Christmas gingerbread house to life.
Make A Gingerbread house From A Sheet Cake
To cut and decorate your gingerbread Christmas sheet cake, here are the supplies I used:
- 1 baked sheet cake using the Betty Crocker gingerbread cake recipe above
- White Cream Cheese Icing (see recipe above)
- Colored Cream Cheese Icing
- Various Icing Tips – We used 2D tip,12 tip, and 5 tip
- Piping Bags
- Multicolored Sprinkles
- Cookie Cutters
Cut a sheet cake into a house
Once the cake has been baked and cooled, use a large cutting knife to cut the cake in half width-wise. Leave 1/2 for the base of your house.
Using the second half, cut it in half diagonally; this will be your gingerbread house cake roof.
Make one more cut, a small rectangle, to create your chimney.
Cookie cutters for decorating outlines
To start decorating the Christmas sheet cake, use your cookie cutters and press them into the cake slightly. This will create an outline for you to follow with your icing.
- Use your 12-tip and pink icing to outline your door on the gingerbread house cake, and use your 5-tip and green icing to outline and fill in your Christmas trees.
- Once you have applied your icing, use a spatula to smooth it out.
- Next, use your 5-tip and your white icing to draw your windows, decorate the roof, and create your snow.
- Lastly, use the 12 tip to outline your entire Christmas sheet cake.
Add sprinkles as Christmas lights on your gingerbread house cake and windows —they make the cake come to life!
Photography by Whitney Gray.