For those of us who find it difficult to bake a simple batch of cookies, gingerbread houses are an astounding feat. And anything beyond that is basically the culinary equivalent of the Great Wall of China.
In Finland, a pair of engineering students have constructed the most intimidating gingerbread creation we’ve ever seen, a 13.5-pound replica of the tower of Barad-Dûr from Lord of the Rings. A home fit for a truly delicious evil overlord.
However, if you’re more of a Game of Thrones kind of person, there’s always this gingerbread Iron Throne, built by a Swedish fan.
This year's gingerbread house! #GameOfThrones @WiCnet @WatchersOTWall @GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/brWsGM7nIs
— amwe (@amawestergren) December 21, 2014
We’re not sure where the geeky gingerbread trend came from, but we love it. There are plenty of decorative gingerbread contests out there, and previous years have yielded everything from the Weasley family’s Burrow House from Harry Potter to this incredible AT-AT from Star Wars.
One of this year’s gingerbread triumphs is surely this Starship Enterprise from the Blackmarket Bakery in California. If only every local bakery were this geeky!
If you’re looking at all these treats in hopeless awe, don’t worry. A home-baked Barad-Dûr is beyond most people’s capabilities, and anyway, no one can eat that much gingerbread. It’s probably better to stick to simpler options like this Borg cube cookie cutter, which looks relatively foolproof and won’t require an engineering degree to use.
Photo via Black Market Bakery/Facebook