Holidays In NC

Gingerbread Displays Create Sweet Feasts for the Eyes

Forget “Hansel and Gretel.” For sheer enchantment, North Carolina’s gingerbread displays beat anything an old witch could concoct.

National Gingerbread Competition
Nov. 16-Jan. 1
The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa, Asheville
Now in its 19th year, the competition attracts hundreds of entries and thousands of visitors, who come to the historic Blue Ridge Mountain resort to admire the architecture and royal icing decor. For 2011 the inn adds a new dimension: The Grove “Bark” Inn Gingerbread Doghouse Competition & Display (Dec. 4-7), featuring doghouses made from ingredients on a canine diet. Book a stay at bring your pooch to enjoy the Grove Park’s new pet-friendly amenities. Find a map plus details about the gingerbread display and guided tours here.

Organic Gingerbread House
Nov. 24-Dec. 28
Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte
Take a look at this 12-by-14-foot Tudor-style structure and you won’t know whether to eat it or move in. Made from half a ton of organic flour, sugar, shortening, molasses, ginger and other ingredients, the life-size structure has its own LED lights and a mossy green roof inspired by the eco-friendly vegetation atop the hotel itself. With its whimsical candy embellishments, the house might taste good with the Chocolate Mint Truffle tea from the hotel’s Bar Cocoa.

Gingerbread at Biltmore
Nov. 4-Jan. 1
Asheville
Anywhere else, the 6-foot-long gingerbread replica of Biltmore House would steal the show, but in George Vanderbilt’s 250-room mansion, it has to compete with 57 trees, 1,000 blooming plants and hundreds of wreaths. Still, the gingerbread chateau displayed in the Main Kitchen ranks as a favorite sight among the estate’s youngest holiday guests, and grownups find delight in the culinary engineering.

Gingerbread Lane
Dec. 3 and Dec. 10-26
The Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge, Charlotte
Competitive bakers can gain advantage with “Gingerbread Houses & Other Holiday Treats.“ The Dec. 3 cooking class falls six days before the entry date for the Gingerbread Lane professional and amateur competition (application deadline is Nov. 28). The creations will be on public display Dec. 10-Dec. 26. Bakers can also try their hand at the Ultimate Cupcake & Cookie Challenge, a competition set for Dec. 18. Both events benefit Levine Children’s Hospital.  

Gingerbread in Chapel Hill
Nov. 25 - Dec. 19
The celebrated cooking school at A Southern Season, the specialty foods emporium, will supply the edifice, icing and edible ornamentation in gingerbread house decorating classes that run Nov. 26-Dec. 6. The sessions are designed for students 7 and older.  

At the Carolina Inn, the area’s culinary carpenters create a village of gingerbread houses that compete for prizes and honors. The display, which has been known to feature structures based on buildings in the community, runs Dec. 3-19 as part of the historic inn’s Twelve Days of Christmas celebration. 

Photo from The National Gingerbread House Competition™ Facebook page

added: December 1, 2011

updated: December 5, 2011