Piping icing is great fun with this kit. Along with the piping bag there are a few different nozzles included so you can mix up the shape of the icing as you decorate. However, we thought there wasn't quite enough icing to really go to town on the decoration. We'd recommend keeping the pre-made icing for another baking day and making a big batch of your own to ensure you don't run out. I made my first batch in a small pan and poured “windows” on a silpat mat. I made a second batch in a large stainless frying pan with a flat bottom and used that for assembling the chocolate gingerbread house. These changes make it easier for bakers to cut shapes out of the dough without worrying that the components will grow into big, fluffy versions of themselves when they bake. If you’re not crazy about the taste, just remind yourself that gingerbread houses aren’t really for eating: They’re for display—and for showing off your skills to your holiday guests. Draft the blueprint

In a decent-sized saucepan, melt the butter along with the sugars, golden syrup, treacle or molasses, cloves, cinnamon and ground ginger. In a cup dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in 2 tablespoons of warm water. Take the saucepan off the heat and beat in the eggs, milk and bicarb in its water. Stir in the flour and cocoa and beat with a wooden spoon to mix. Fold in the chocolate chips, pour into the lined tin and bake for about 45 minutes until risen and firm. It will be slightly damp underneath the set top and that's the way you want it. Path- cover the area in front of the doorway with white chocolate and place silver almonds in place on either side of the door, leading to the edge of the cake board. Contains: Gingerbread house pieces, 2x gingerbread biscuits, pre-made icing, 3x bags of sweets, plastic base.If you run out halfway through, you'll need to make fresh icing that will likely be a slightly different shade to the icing that came with the kit. This can really ruin the appearance of your gingerbread house. Using a small glitter brush, carefully paint chocolate pieces with long strokes and set aside to dry (about 30 Minutes.) I decorated my chocolate gingerbread house sides before putting the house together. It’s so much easier to decorate on a flat surface. I know a lot of people have issues with raw eggs so I opted for store bought gel, buttercream, and chocolate ganache to hold things together. Looking past our amateur decorating job we were still disappointed with how this house looks. The icing pen colours and sweets looked different to how they appeared on the box - especially the orange icing - and the gingerbread in the box was much darker.

As we found with John Lewis' pre-made icing, the icing in this kit was runny and didn't hold the pieces together very securely. The cooled white chocolate ganache should be moldable. If it is not, you can heat it gently and add more cream (sometimes, it just needs to be a little warm). Mold the white chocolate ganache into a cone (about 2 inches wide at the base and 3 inches tall). Set on a small piece of parchment paper. Press SweeTARTS Mini Chewy candies into the ganache to form the base of the tree. Refrigerate until hardened. Peel away the parchment from the bottom. Place on an unwrapped Butterfinger peanut butter cup mini. Large Butterfinger peanut butter cup minis tree

Our verdict:We had a bit of a disaster building this gingerbread campervan, and were disappointed with the kit overall. Snow cover-cover the cake board, roof peak, rainbow icicles/lights, trees, and window ledges with white chocolate, and then sanding sugar to give it shine. There were a few issues with this kit. We found the icing runny and difficult to use when constructing this house. There are plastic clips included for holding the base in place, but the wall pieces still leant inwards and we'd put that down to the weak cement.

There's no piping bag included in this kit either, so we had to use butter knives when attempting to decorate it.The gingerbread house pieces in this kit are smooth and plain, so there's no indication of how you might go about decorating it. The instructions advise that you draw your design fully before starting so you know exactly what you're going to be doing with your piping bag. Start by looking to an expert who knows more than you do about baking. Namely, the folks at Serious Eats. We tested their phenomenal recipe for so-called construction gingerbread, and found it makes a strong yet edible frame. Their serving size will produce enough dough to make one standard house, or you can easily double the ingredients for a more palatial structure.