Gingerbread Minas Morgul

This was my gingerbread house in December 2006.
It's my rendition of Minas Morgul as envisioned in The Return of the King movie. There are no shots in the movie of the whole thing, here are a couple of screencaps to give you the idea:
131 pieces of gingerbread. 40 cups of flour. One all-nighter.

It's not as polished as I would have liked. Partly I blame this on the all-nighter -- I did the entire assembly in one huge 20 hour session because I had to leave the next day to visit my parents. I learned some valuable lessons that I will definitely apply to the next project:

1. Super-acute angles are tough.
2. If you want your gingerbread house to live up to its full potential as edible, ephemeral art, plan a party to eat the house in advance. Otherwise it will be two months old and everybody will be afraid of it. Also, more candy == more deliciousness, except for licorice, which nobody likes.
3. Using a good construction-level recipe makes a huge difference on a big house. The recipe I used appears to have disappeared from the internet... I'll hunt down and post recipes in a gingerbread tutorial in the fall.
4. Make sure your cookie sheets are flat! You could see how the large spiky pieces don't quite line up because they weren't quite flat. The aluminum cookie sheets I was using have air inside and actually warp and change shape in the oven.
5. Lots of people like the look of exposed gingerbread. If I did Minas Morgul again I would tint the dough black instead of painting it with icing.
6. Rice krispy treats are a pain to work with. I suggest mixing rice krispies with icing instead, for something that won't sag.

For the detailed description and process photos, see my journal at deviantART.