Not to say it was easier constructing the original dome of
West Baden Springs Hotel when it was built 117 years ago. But, that dome didn’t take six tries to get just right like this
one did.
The joys of trying a new recipe, right?
We’re talking a gingerbread version of the dome here, and it’s
on display at West Baden Springs Hotel all throughout the holiday season. This
is the first year for the pastry team at West Baden to take on a gingerbread
house for the holidays, and they decided to tackle a replica version of the
hotel itself — no small task considering all the curves, quirks and details
that make West Baden unique.
Head pastry chef Courtney Heindl got into the weeds (quite
literally) for this project, starting with a couple walks around the hotel to take
pictures of the building that were then pieced together into a scale model
design. Courtney built much of this cardboard base at home — after all, this is
essentially an extra-credit project for the pastry team, given their regular
workdays are already crammed as this is one of their busiest times of year with
all the holiday events and large-scale banquets.
This is Courtney’s first time making a gingerbread house,
too, and even though she’s baked everything under the sun there was a bit of
trial-and-error involved with this gingerbread recipe.
She tried a traditional gingerbread to start with. It spread too much when it baked. Meaning too much of the detail in the hotel's design was lost. So Courtney adapted using a sugar cookie recipe with molasses and spices added. And that did the job baking up flatter and keeping this intricate pattern of the top of the hotel walls intact. Adding windows on the outside? That took another three hours to pipe on about 350 windows over the whole structure.
And this was all the easy part. The dome required some persistence and problem-solving.
They shaped a massive slab of dough over a huge stainless steel bowl and crossed their fingers. But their first try crumbled and cracked. They tried again. Crumbled again. Tried again. Cracked once more.
By the sixth time, finally — a dome that kept its shape.
With a sackful of towels underneath and one of the cracked domes on top of that for support, they slid the good dome over that and finally had a winner. A little more icing to bind everything together and add more decorative elements like icicles on top of the towers — plus a sprinkling of powdered sugar for snowy dome — and the gingerbread palace is complete after more than 30 hours' worth of work.
See it on display on the mezzanine level above the lobby all throughout the holiday season. In fact, the entire mezzanine has been transformed into a gingerbread walk. The culinary class from nearby Orleans High School got into the gingerbread act by creating their own houses to display alongside our West Baden gingerbread creation. And while you're up there, pause to look out over the atrium for an awesome view of the 40-foot Christmas tree. It's sure to fill you with the spirit of the season — if the tempting scent of gingerbread hasn't accomplished that already.