Inside a spectacular gingerbread world: “I assembled a five-building Helsinki city block”

“I made my first gingerbread house with my older brother more than ten years ago. We were bored one day and tried to figure out something fun to do. We decided to make a simple gingerbread church that was about as tall as a milk carton. We printed templates from the internet and decorated the church with dragées and a powdered sugar–water frosting, which, of course, never dried. Nowadays, I use royal icing, the same decorating mixture used for cookies.”

Making gingerbread houses became a tradition, and the houses kept getting bigger. My brother and I also grew up, and life got busy, which made coordinating our schedules a challenge. After five Christmases, I began making the houses on my own.

The most recent house almost always ends up being my favorite. One of my creations depicted a Copenhagen-themed street view and another one a colorful rural Åland setting. I usually come up with ideas that same year. What I love about making a gingerbread house is getting to fully focus and immerse myself in a large project. I can freely use my creativity to design the templates, shapes, and colors.

The most frustrating part is cutting, rolling, and baking all the pieces because it takes so much time. I have to bake many large pieces, tray after tray. My favorite part is decorating the walls before assembling the house. I love all kinds of finishing touches, as I really enjoy intricate details.

For Christmas 2023 I assembled a five-building Töölö city block. My projects grow bigger every year, and once again, the size caught me by surprise. Töölö is the largest gingerbread project I’ve ever made. I started making the templates in early November and finished them a week before Christmas.

I always document the building process on Instagram. Many people admire my meticulous work, and others wonder how I have the patience to spend so much time on a gingerbread house. When I was a student, I had more time for building. Over the past few years, I’ve mainly worked on these projects in the evenings because of my day job. Still, the holiday season would feel strange if I weren’t planning and building a house at the end of each year.

I enjoy making gingerbread houses, but I don’t eat them because gingerbread is too sweet and sugary for my taste. A large gingerbread house also takes up a lot of space in my home, and I don’t leave it on the dining table all through Christmas. Once I finish the house, I donate it to bring joy to someone else.