A Gingerbread Preston
Dec 20, 2020 · 2 minute readNormally at this time of year, I’d be writing this blog entry through the haze of jetlag, having spent the weekend wandering around random airports on the East Coast and failing to sleep on an eight-hour overnight flight. This year is different, obviously. It’s nice of the British Government to unlock a secret new Tier just before Christmas…although over here the administration doesn’t seem to care that the daily death total has broken past the four thousand barrier. We just continue to countdown the days until the baby has its pram taken out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. With arms, if necessary.
But, given I’m trapped here for Christmas, we’re going to make the best of it. Including a return of BRUTAL GINGERBREAD!
The last time I attempted something like this, it was a very 2D version of the Trellick Tower. This year, I scaled my ambitions a bit too high and tried to pull off Preston Bus Station. It’s not too bad - I had to shorten the width of the thing for stability reasons, but the curves have turned out really well (thanks go out here to Tammy, who suggested the casserole dish after I’d spent a day experimenting with other, less good ideas). There is a lot of royal icing behind the scenes to try and improve the structural integrity, and I don’t think my attempt to replicate what I call “the Arndale tiling” really came through on gingerbread once it was baked. Still, it holds together! And next year, I have plans for something that’s a little grander, but will probably be easier once I work out how to use Tammy’s new CNC machine that she’s getting for Christmas…
(yes, it’s a bit twee, but heck, it’s celebrating a fantastic building made at the height of the post-war consensus. We never had it so good)
That counts as 1 of the next two weeks’ 26 desserts. I need to start picking up the pace!
(more to come as the week goes on)