Decorating Wilton Haunted House Halloween baking kits

If you buy a pre-baked Wilton Haunted House cookie kit (left), please see my article on how to assemble it, or watch the video on this blog. This post only deals with decorating the house. If you are intimidated by assembling the house yourself, pre-assembled kits are available (on the right). Decorating really is the fun part.

Step 1: Prepare your icing. The icing for decorating does not need to be as thick as for assembling. You do want it to stay where you put it and be thick enough to hold the weight of the candies. Make up the icing colors that come with the kit. You can also use additional piping gels or icing colors. Wilton now makes a line of sparkle gels that are wonderful for gingerbread houses. We use the black gel in the video. You can use any gels or icing colors you happen to have to supplement your decorating.

Step 2: Put the icing into prepared icing bags. You can get different effects by using different icing tips. For instance, you can make raised shapes, line edges or build up borders. Cut approx. 2 cm off the tip of your plastic icing bag. Insert the tip you want to use for that color. Put icing in the bag and squeeze it down – getting rid of air bubbles as you go. Twist the top of the bag to keep icing from coming out the top. Keep the tip covered in plastic or a moist cloth to prevent clogging.

Step 3: Get candies ready. Lay out the candies that come in the kit. Check your pantry or candy stash for extra ones you may want to use. You can also add some sprinkles or sparkles to your gingerbread house. Large candies can be cut in half – glue the flat half to the haunted house. Candies can be cut into different shapes, or made smaller to fit smaller areas. You can also add coconut – but I would suggest tinting it for Halloween. Place some shredded coconut in a small plastic baggie. Add a couple of drops of food color and knead until the color is how you want it. Remove the coconut and let it dry on waxed paper.

Step 4: Start decorating your Haunted Halloween cookie house. To use the icing bag, hold it at a 45 degree angle. Use one hand to steer the bag and the other hand to slowly and consistently press the icing down and through the hole. Place the tip where you want to start applying the icing. Squeeze so icing comes out and guide tip along the surface you want to cover. Stop squeezing, touch tip to surface, and pull up and away when you are done. Do not move along too quickly or you will break your line. If too much icing comes out, it is either runny; the tip is too large; or you are squeezing too hard. If little or no icing comes out, the tip is clogged, the icing is too thick, or you are not squeezing hard enough.

Use the icing as glue to attach the candies. You can also decorate the
cardboard surface. Make icicles hanging from the house by holding the bag
perpendicular to the roof edge. Squeeze to make a blob on the roof edge,
then pull the tip down – easing pressure as you go so the icing goes to a
point. To make zigzags, squeeze evenly with one hand as your guiding hand
moves in a tight side-to-side motion at a 45 degree angle. You can do
scallops and straight lines the same way. Dots are cute – especially in a
line. Just hold the bag perpendicular the house and place the tip where
you want the dot. Squeeze out some icing then press the tip to the
surface, release pressure and pull the tip back.

For more on these Halloween Houses including a complete step by step instructional video, see Halloween Gingerbread House Kits.

Edible art is fun to make and eat. Have fun with your creation. Worse comes to worse, scrape the icing off any sections you are not happy with – and try again.

Partycrafter