Students create and assemble houses for annual event

Students in the Baking and Pastry Arts associate degree program and the Baking Production diploma program of MATC got to show their wonderful skills as they built gingerbread houses to display from Dec. 9-16 at the Milwaukee Public Market. More than 30 gingerbread houses, castles and much more showed off the many skills the students have in their field. Some of the students, like Corey Cleary and McKenna Steiner, have only attended MATC for a year and they are already making amazing houses. Students that came back to Milwaukee, like Rae-Keba Harmon and Tina Ashford, also made wonderful houses.
The inspiration for each house is unique. Ashford and Harmon said their inspiration was that they wanted to show off their skills to the rest of Milwaukee; they both have been in culinary for a long time and this would help give them more experience. Steiner said her inspiration was from Pinterest. She looked on Pinterest for ideas and eventually found some cool ideas so she could start planning and drawing out what she wanted to do.
Cleary got her inspiration from a house she always drove by. It was a well-structured house and she liked the details. She took a picture of the house and made her gingerbread house from there.
The students worked on these for one to two weeks. They first drew their design on a piece of paper and, when they liked it, they made a house out of cardboard. If they still liked it and it was approved, they could start building the houses with gingerbread, candy rocks (which are chocolates that actually look like small rocks), and hardened gelatin. Cleary even had small tricks to keep a piece of gingerbread from falling. She took a rounded, wooden stick and placed it on the table and against the piece that was drying on the house. She then took a weight and pressed it against the stick so it wouldn’t move and so she could do other things while it dried.
Each house was very detailed. Each detail took time to plan and time to dry. The different piping techniques of the frosting and the designs students made with the frosting were unique, plus the different candy that they put on the house, from candy rocks to make it look like rocks or bricks, to hardened gelatin to make it look like windows. Even small details inside the houses, like small Christmas trees, gingerbread people or candles, took time and a very steady hand. Each detail made the houses unique and pop out in the mass of houses.
Besides being very excited about showing off their houses, the students also had a small fear. They feared that with every piece they put on, that the houses would break, cave in, etc. For most of the students this was their first time showing the houses, so they wanted to make sure their houses stayed up and were sturdy enough to transport safely.
From Dec. 9-16, the public got to bid on the houses. The proceeds go to scholarships for students in the baking and pastry programs. These houses were also voted on by professionals of the industry and the public for the best house. The winners received a scholarship for next semester.
Not only did the public get to observe and bid on the houses and take them home, they also got to make their own houses. For $30 per house, the public created their own masterpieces. Students and faculty from MATC’s baking programs and members of the American Institute of Wine and Food were on hand to assist guests. Proceeds from this public gingerbread making also go to scholarships.
Each house on display was very well done by the students in the baking and pastry programs at MATC. Students got to show off their skills and also had a chance to win awards. They had fun doing this, and all the students I asked, would gladly do it again next year. It is a wonderful way to kick off the end of the year!