Gingerbread house

Mix butter, granulated sugar, molasses and glucose syrup with the paddle attachment.

Add the milk and mix until thoroughly combined.

Add half the flour with the cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger and baking soda on low speed, then add the rest of the flour and mix until just combined.

Divide the dough in two, wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate two hours.

Make a further half batch, and later another one and a half batches; the whole house took one recipe times three.

Roll the chilled dough out on a floured baking mat with a floured rolling pin, neither too thick nor too thin.

Lay the paper templates on the dough and trace round them with a pizza cutter; cut the windows with a knife; leave a border so the edges do not burn, then peel away the offcuts.

Slide onto a sheet pan and bake at 350F for 15 minutes.

Recut the lines, remove the window pieces and tidy the puffed edges, then bake about 10 minutes more.

Flip the panel over and leave to harden and cool off to the side; repeat for every panel.

For the royal icing, put the icing sugar, egg whites and cream of tartar in the mixer bowl with the whisk and beat on high seven to 10 minutes to stiff peaks.

Move the icing to a piping bag and fit a nozzle.

Dab icing at the corners of each window opening to hold a gelatin sheet in place, weight it down, then pipe along the edges to make the window frame.

Stick strips of green candy on with icing for the shutters, or paint them with dark green food coloring.

Push a piping nozzle through the centre of a round red candy to make a wreath and fix it to the front door.

Pipe icing along the joins and stand the front panel upright, propping it with measuring cups until the icing sets.

Glue offcut panels inside as support beams and connect the walls one at a time, letting each join set.

Cut and fit the roof panels, trimming to fit, and glue them with icing; prop them with spare gingerbread until set.

Fill the gaps in the roof with scrap pieces and redo any joins that have come loose.

Ice chocolate disks onto the roof as shingles, cutting them in half where needed.

Dust powdered sugar over the ground for snow and set green candies around the front as shrubbery.