Gingerbread church and chapel template
A chapel with a bell tower, a steeple, arched windows and a round rose window. Fill the windows with melted hard candy for stained glass.
Your printable pages
What you will cut
- Footprint
- 13.6 × 21.6 cm
- Height
- 26.9 cm
- Dough
- 1.45 kg
- Baking sheets
- 2
- Candy for windows
- about 9 hard candies
| Piece | Cut | Size | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Front wall | 1 | 12 × 17.2 cm | |
| B | Back wall | 1 | 12 × 17.2 cm | |
| C | Side wall | 2 | 18.8 × 10 cm | Fits between the front and back walls. |
| D | Roof panel, ridge side | 1 | 21.6 × 10.7 cm | Slightly longer: it overlaps the other panel along the ridge. |
| E | Roof panel | 1 | 21.6 × 10.1 cm | |
| F | Tower front | 1 | 5.5 × 18.6 cm | |
| G | Tower side | 2 | 4.9 × 18.6 cm | |
| H | Steeple | 4 | 6.7 × 9 cm | Glue the four sides to each other, then set it on the tower. |
| I | Door (optional) | 1 | 1.8 × 3.1 cm | Bake the cut-out door and stand it ajar with icing. |
How to build it
How to use this template
- Print every page at 100% and check the scale bar at the bottom.
- Cut out the paper pieces, including the window and door openings.
- Roll the dough 0.6 cm thick directly on baking paper. Lay the templates on top and cut around them with a sharp knife.
- Chill the cut pieces for 15 minutes so they hold their shape, then bake.
- While the pieces are still warm, lay the templates on them again and trim any edges that spread.
- Let everything cool flat and dry overnight. Build with thick royal icing and let the walls set for an hour before adding the roof.
Gingerbread church and chapel
- Build the nave first: front wall (A), side walls (C) and back wall (B), glued with thick icing and propped up.
- Add the roof panels once the walls have set for an hour, the ridge-side panel last.
- Build the tower against the front wall: the tower front (F) with the two tower sides (G) behind it.
- Glue the four steeple triangles (H) to each other on a flat plate. Let them set, then lift the steeple onto the tower.
Candy-glass windows
The glowing windows in the 3D preview are melted hard candy. This house has 12 windows and needs about 9 hard candies (60 g).
What you need
- See-through hard candies, such as lemon drops, Jolly Ranchers, fruit drops or butterscotch. Yellow and orange give the warm glow in the preview.
- Baking paper or a silicone mat. Melted candy sticks to a bare tray and to foil.
- A zip bag and a rolling pin for crushing.
How to make them
- Sort the candies by color, put them in a zip bag and crush them with a rolling pin into coarse grit.
- Cut the pieces, window openings included, on baking paper and leave them on the paper.
- Bake the pieces until they are nearly done, then take the tray out.
- Fill each window with crushed candy, level with the dough, not heaped.
- Bake for another 4 to 6 minutes, until the candy has melted flat and stopped bubbling.
- Let the pieces cool on the tray for 15 minutes, until the glass is hard, then peel off the paper.
- Pipe the window crosses on the glass with royal icing. The dashed lines in each window on the template show where.
- Adding the candy only for the last minutes keeps it clear. Baked the whole time, yellow candy turns brown.
- Mix colors inside one window for stained glass, as on the church.
- Light the house with a battery LED tea light placed inside before the roof goes on. A real candle melts the windows.
Tips that save a collapse
- Rest the dough overnight in the fridge. Rested dough spreads less, so the pieces keep their size.
- Roll out on baking paper and cut on the paper. Moving raw pieces stretches them.
- Trim the pieces against the template as soon as they leave the oven. Once cool, they are too hard to cut.
- Use royal icing that holds a stiff peak. Runny icing lets walls slide.
- Fill window openings with crushed hard candy before baking for glowing glass.
Questions
How do I print the template at the right size?
In the print dialog, choose 100% or "Actual size", not "Fit to page". Then measure the scale bar at the bottom of any page: it should be exactly 5 cm, or 2 inches on the US Letter version.
Why are the side walls shorter than the house?
The side walls fit between the front and back walls, so they are shortened by twice the dough thickness. That way the outside of the house ends up exactly the size you chose. Change the dough thickness and the template adjusts.
How thick should I roll the dough?
About 6 mm (1/4 inch) for most houses. Go thinner, 4 mm, for mini houses and thicker, 8 mm, for large ones so the walls can carry the roof.
Can I build it from cardboard or paper instead?
Yes. Set the thickness to your material, for example 3 mm for corrugated cardboard, and the template adjusts the walls and roof to match.
Is the template free?
Yes. Every design and every size downloads as a free PDF, with no sign-up.
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