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V&A Museum - London's Museum of Architecture gathered works from chefs, architects, designers, and engineers for their annual Gingerbread City exhibition.

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Cities -

Over 70 gingerbread buildings are built and displayed throughout December 2024.

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Future - In a bid to playfully encourage conversation about the future of the cities we live in, these structures mimic our built environment.

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Going all out - Putting all our homemade gingerbread houses to shame, these masterpieces make up a full city, complete with bridges, parks, statues, and even a train line.

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Recreate - This elaborate miniature city was built to connect the public with architecture, recreating structures like the Berlin Wall and sporting stadiums.

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Exploring every detail - The city also included skyscrapers, a cinema, library, school, city farm, museum, sports stadium, homeless shelter, brewery, hotels and even an ice bar.

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Edible exhibition - Although the entire exhibition is edible, taste testing is not included. But the smell walking into the room makes it very tempting.

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Teamed up -

Some of the world's biggest designers and architects, including the firm of the late Zaha Hadid, teamed up to build this impressive and delicious metropolis.

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Baked - About 50 companies joined forces to make this city come alive, baking and building structures for the project.

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Master plan - This particular Gingerbread City was masterplanned and sponsored by Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design.

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Festive - Although the structures represented modern architecture, they were still decorated with festive and fun designs representing the holiday season.

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Charity - Aiming to engage the public with urban planning, the annual Gingerbread City exhibition also raises money for charity during the holiday season.

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The White House - Another annual tradition consisting of elaborate gingerbread structures is included in the White House's Christmas decorations.

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State Dining Room - Each year since the early 1970s, they unveil the official holiday gingerbread house at the Executive Mansion, and then it stays on display in the State Dining Room.

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London - In 2007, pastry chef Beate Woellstein made her own miniature gingerbread city, complete with iconic London monuments.

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Recreate - She recreated The Grosvenor House Hotel, Houses of Parliament, and the London Eye completely out of edible materials.

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The Grosvenor House Hotel - The Grosvenor House Hotel hosted her showpiece throughout December 2007.

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Hours - It took Woellstein 300 hours and 50 kg (110 lbs) of dough to recreate these London icons.

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Art - The art of making a beautiful, delicious and structurally sound gingerbread house is difficult, yet rewarding.

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Book -

Author, baker, and architect Susan Matheson even wrote a book, called 'The Gingerbread Architect,' on how to make the perfect gingerbread houses from scratch.

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Architect - Founder of Matheson Architecture + Design, Matheson went from the drawing board to the baking pan when she became a mother, to create these miniature masterpieces.

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Materials - Although the materials and the sizing of the buildings changed, her vision and creative skills remained. 

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Dos and don'ts - Her book touches on traditional and modern designs, decorations, as well as the dos and don'ts of designing and building your own gingerbread house.

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Standing - In order to keep the gingerbread house structurally sound, she advises not to roll the gingerbread panels too thin, and that the taller the building is, the thicker the panels should be.

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Decorations - The most entertaining and yummiest part of gingerbread houses is the candy decorations. Choosing the right candies for the appropriately sized adornments is crucial.

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Windows - Usually you'd leave the windows empty, but did you know you can make glass candy by baking crushed hard candies into window openings and then piping on mullions?

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Lighting -

What also finishes a gingerbread house to utter perfection is back lighting. Putting a tea candle inside will definitely heat up the joint though, so be ready to eat up!

See also: New York City: the best city to experience international Christmas spirit

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