How to Structure a Gingerbread House

• 1). First, prepare the icing which will act as the cement to hold the gingerbread house together. Take a bowl and pour in 2 cups of powdered sugar. Then add about a tablespoon of water. Mix the ingredients together until smooth. The icing will stick better if it is thicker. If the icing in the bowl is runny, add more powdered sugar and mix in. Continue doing so until the icing has the consistency of paste.
  
  
• 2). Next, structure the house by taking the shoe box, one of the side rectangular pieces for the house and a side piece that would fit the roof. These are the first pieces you will ice together, using the shoe box to lean against. Either fill a piping bag with the paste or take a knife and line the edges of the pieces that will be connecting. If you don't have a shoe box, you can also use cans on either side of the gingerbread house to steady it.
  
  
• 3). Hold the two pieces together with your hands. Keep the shoe box behind it for support. Hold the pieces together for at least 30 seconds. Let go of the pieces and lean them slightly against the box. If the pieces fall, add more icing and hold together again for a longer period of time.
  
  
• 4). Following that, you can glue the other two side pieces (the other rectangular side and the other side that will connect to the roof). Use the same method as Step 3. Once two pieces each have been glued together you can paste the now larger pieces together, once again relying on the shoe box to lean on. Be sure that the house is not pasted together crookedly and is standing stable.
  
  
• 5). Next, ice the pieces onto the house. Add icing to the edges of the house where the roof will meet the sides of the house. Add icing to where the roof slabs would meet each other. This is the trickiest part, so hold it together for a longer amount of time. Once the house is structured, you can remove the shoe box and begin decorating the house with the remaining icing and other supplies you have.