Once Skytop Lodge starts assembling their life-sized gingerbread house, there is no denying that Christmas is just around the corner. Guests often ask what it takes to make this huge holiday treat every year. The answer is a lot of sugar, spice, and everything nice.

More precisely, the culinary team uses 175 pounds of brown sugar, brown sugar to be precise, along with almost 7 pounds of ginger, 3.5 pounds of allspice, and 3.5 pounds of cinnamon in the life-sized gingerbread house. The house is also held together by 315 pounds of royal icing and then decorated with 250 pounds of candy!

The gingerbread house at Skytop Lodge is months in the making considering they have to bake more than 3,000 pounds of gingerbread. Since the project takes around 300 hours of labor to complete, they get started in September in order to have the house ready for visitors and guests by Thanksgiving. Although it is definitely a lot of work, the delight and joy this annual Skytop tradition brings to guests and staff is worth it.

Skytop Lodge Gingerbread Recipe Ingredients

• Honey - 216 pounds
• Molasses - 216 pounds
• Brown sugar - 175 pounds
• Ginger - 6.75 pounds
• Allspice - 3.5 pounds
• Cinnamon - 3.5 pounds
• Baking soda - 13.5 pounds
• All-purpose shortening - 108 pounds
• Eggs - 162 pounds
• All-purpose flour - 432 pounds
• Oxidant flour - 432 pounds

Icing:
• Powdered Sugar - 250 pounds
• Egg Whites - 60 pounds