Gingerbread Train Kit Passes Muster
Sunday November 8, 2009
Create A Treat's Gingerbread Train Kit lives up to its hype. Everything is included -- EZbuild Tray for assembly, icing, decorations, and good instructions on the box. But seasoned gingerbread house maker that I am, I've got some nits to pick.
Create A Treat's Gingerbread Train
© King Arthur Flour Company, used with permission.
Despite kneading the icing bags as directed, the icing doesn't flow easily and for little hands and inexperienced adults, I think this would be a problem. It certainly makes piping lines of decorations impossible. I nuked my icing for 2 seconds and that helped, but I had to renuke at intervals to keep the icing pliable. I ended up making my own royal icing to decorate.
Still, if that's the only fault I can find with this kit, then I think it's a pretty good product. It certainly makes things easier if making a gingerbread house from scratch isn't in the cards. There's no mixing, rolling, cutting or baking. You just snap the pieces apart and start building. Oh, that's right, I used a paring knife to lightly score the lines to make the "snapping" more of a sure thing, but I still broke an edge off the roof. No problem, I just "glued" it together with the icing supplied.
The manufacturer provides a how-to video on its site, which is very helpful. The kid demo-ing it makes it look much easier than it is, but methinks he's had a lot of experience with these kits (there are more for other holidays).
Still, when time is an issue, this is a great way to create a memory with the kids. The train came together very fast. My recommendations to the manufacturer is to change the icing formula or instead of premixed icing, supply the ingredients to mix your own (yes, that would be a bit more work, but the results would be better), and a piping tip would be nice.
The bottom line: Can you make what the packaging says you can? Absolutely YES! Will it look like the picture on the box front? Not necessarily. Do you care? If the answer is "no," I heartily endorse this product. If the answser is "yes," consider purchasing the kit but making your own royal icing.
The manufacturer doesn't sell this product directly, so check this vendor's site for more information and how to order the Gingerbread Train Kit. I've always believed gingerbread houses are not just for Christmas anymore, now here's backup from King Arthur Flour Company.
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Create A Treat's Gingerbread Train
© King Arthur Flour Company, used with permission.
Despite kneading the icing bags as directed, the icing doesn't flow easily and for little hands and inexperienced adults, I think this would be a problem. It certainly makes piping lines of decorations impossible. I nuked my icing for 2 seconds and that helped, but I had to renuke at intervals to keep the icing pliable. I ended up making my own royal icing to decorate.
Still, if that's the only fault I can find with this kit, then I think it's a pretty good product. It certainly makes things easier if making a gingerbread house from scratch isn't in the cards. There's no mixing, rolling, cutting or baking. You just snap the pieces apart and start building. Oh, that's right, I used a paring knife to lightly score the lines to make the "snapping" more of a sure thing, but I still broke an edge off the roof. No problem, I just "glued" it together with the icing supplied.
The manufacturer provides a how-to video on its site, which is very helpful. The kid demo-ing it makes it look much easier than it is, but methinks he's had a lot of experience with these kits (there are more for other holidays).
Still, when time is an issue, this is a great way to create a memory with the kids. The train came together very fast. My recommendations to the manufacturer is to change the icing formula or instead of premixed icing, supply the ingredients to mix your own (yes, that would be a bit more work, but the results would be better), and a piping tip would be nice.
The bottom line: Can you make what the packaging says you can? Absolutely YES! Will it look like the picture on the box front? Not necessarily. Do you care? If the answer is "no," I heartily endorse this product. If the answser is "yes," consider purchasing the kit but making your own royal icing.
The manufacturer doesn't sell this product directly, so check this vendor's site for more information and how to order the Gingerbread Train Kit. I've always believed gingerbread houses are not just for Christmas anymore, now here's backup from King Arthur Flour Company.
Sign up for the Eastern European Food newsletter
Check out the Eastern European Food forums
Follow me on Twitter
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