A private dining space in the gingerbread house also welcomes groups of up to 10 for afternoon tea, dinner, or other special celebrations. Two daily seatings of the Holiday Tea take place in Laurel Court throughout the holiday season as the popular gingerbread house Moet & Chandon champagne bar sparkles in the adjacent lobby.
Inside the Making of a Two-Story, Larger-Than-Life Gingerbread House
Each October, painter Larry Walton puts down his brush and embraces a new temporary role: gingerbread house animator.
He’s part of the engineering team that spends 520 hours each year building, lighting, and outfitting a life-sized Victorian gingerbread house in the lobby of Fairmont San Francisco. More than 8,000 baked bricks cover the two-story structure, which stands at 25 feet high, 35 feet wide, and nearly 11 feet deep. Pastry then dedicates 450 hours to decorating those bricks with icing and sweets. By the numbers, it’s an astounding feat — and just as impressive to marvel at in real life.
Builders introduce new details each year, and families build holiday traditions around tours of the awe-inspiring display. “This year, I made a model Lombard Street and cable cars that move over the Golden Gate Bridge,” shares Walton. “It’s a whole new structure that took five days to build.”
Visits from Santa and a champagne bar round out Fairmont’ San Francisco’s engaging schedule of seasonal events, and through it all, the gingerbread house remains central to every celebration. Here’s an inside look at how it all comes together.
The Construction of a Holiday Classic
Fairmont engineering and culinary teams begin planning the gingerbread house in July, which is also when crews begin baking 12- by 4-inch gingerbread bricks to cover the home’s wooden frame.
As the holidays draw near, builders frame the rooms, set the roof, and prepare the structure for decorations. “When it’s complete, each gingerbread brick gets placed by hand, and the pastry people pipe icing along every single grout line,” Walton says (that icing requires more than 1,000 pounds of powdered sugar and around 150 gallons of egg whites).
Teams then tackle the sweet job of outfitting the gingerbread house with candy, from Peeps to gumdrops to strands of Nerds Rope in all colors of the rainbow. There are candy canes, of course, and in past years, designers have attached individual Hershey’s Miniatures bars to the walls with icing. When it’s complete, more than 1,900 pounds of candy adorn the Fairmont’s gingerbread house.
Walton, a self-described tinkerer, also creates magical holiday accents for the house, often from everyday items. He turns industrial air filters into snow-dusted hills, and motors salvaged from office shredders and windshield wipers power reindeer rocking chairs and swirling snowflake mobiles. His hand-cut shadow puppets even star in a holiday video aired inside the house.
As any avid baker (or Great British Bake-Off viewer) will know, sometimes, there are mishaps in creating a confectionary masterpiece — one year, the lobby lights even melted the home’s chocolate-covered roof. But unexpected surprises (both planned and accidental) charm hotel guests and public visitors alike throughout the season.
After the holidays, Walton removes the interior electronics and teams tear down the structure. The framework gets recycled, and the bricks, candy, and other edible ingredients are composted. The Fairmont lobby returns to normal, but the holiday spirit lingers until the next season.
“The gingerbread house is definitely a challenge, but we’re all glad to be part of the project. To watch kids light up as they explore, and to see adults marvel at the little nuances, is all really incredible,” Walton says.
More Holiday Magic
The Fairmont’s gingerbread house sits beside a dazzling 23-foot Christmas tree in the main lobby, surrounded by a festive holiday train and other seasonal decorations. Twinkling lights and garland grace the central stairway, and smaller trees, snowmen, and scarlet poinsettias brighten mezzanine spaces. Santa swings by to collect holiday wishes from children of all ages and pose for photos.
Charitable giving also figures into the festivities. Through the Fairmont’s Trees of Hope campaign, the hotel collects donations for Make a Wish in a dedicated box near the gingerbread house.
For those staying at the hotel, Fairmont San Francisco’s exquisitely decorated Santa Suite, available to guests through January 3 rd , bundles overnight accommodations with breakfast for up to four registered guests, access to classic holiday movies, an in-room candy and hot chocolate bar (with an adult beverage for parents), and a personal a gingerbread house kit.
Gingerbread House Bundt® Pan
This festive gingerbread house Bundt® pan that puts a fun twist on the classic tradition. Bake your favorite tasty treat and go to town decorating the playful design and detailing or keep it simple with a snowy dusting of powdered sugar. Also a perfect housewarming gift for a new homeowner!
SKU: 83948
Out of Stock
Product Details
Material: Cast Aluminum
Warranty: Lifetime Warranty
Weight: 1.8 lbs
9 Cup Capacity
California Code 109010 Information: Click here to learn more.
1. Before initial use and after subsequent uses, hand
wash with warm, soapy water. Extended soaking is
not recommended.
2. Before each use, brush with butter or shortening and
dust with flour or cocoa to coat. Baking spray
containing flour may also be used. Do not use regular
cooking spray.
3. Mixes and recipes may vary. Fill the pan no more
than 3/4 full to avoid overflow.
4. Metal utensils, scouring pads and abrasive cleaners
should not be used on nonstick surfaces.
Product Reviews
Posted by Denise
December 28th, 2022
I prepped the pan with Crisco (painted it in) and flour. It worked! The cake was so fun to decorate and made for an impressive party display.
Posted by Lynne Miles
December 22nd, 2022
Amazed how well this cake released from the pan. I saw the little tree tips and thought this is going to be a challenge. Also the details come right up to the top so one has to over fill it to get them filled in. Still it worked out so well. Shaved off the top over flow and had an adorable cake.
Posted by Gayle
December 20th, 2022
I love the pan and it comes out great every time. This is my third year but first review. I used bakers joy spray in the pan this year and it worked fine.
Posted by Carol
November 15th, 2022
Are use this every Christmas! Are usually use the spiced eggnog cake recipe in the Bundt cakes book by Nordic ware. Sometimes I decorate with just powdered sugar and sometimes I frost and decorate the cake. Cake never sticks to the pan, either!
October 1st, 2021
The most beautiful cake for my 2 year old daughter’s birthday. I’ve followed the recipe from the package.
Posted by Jennifer
August 11th, 2021
Beautiful and fun! This makes a very cute little house to decorate!
December 20th, 2019
Made it using enclosed recipe – decorated it for our Christmas Centerpiece
and looks beautiful!
Posted by Eloisa
December 2nd, 2019
Bundt pans, in general, scare me. They rarely come out of the pan in one piece. I wasn’t so sure that this pan would be any different. However, it was my best experience with a bundt pan. I love it. I made one and not I am going to make another one. The first one didn’t survive to frost it. Everyone loved the end product. I will continue to purchase other pans. Thanks so much for a quality product, Nordic Ware. My only wish is that there was a fill up to this line indicator on the pan.
Posted by Theresa
December 29th, 2017
New addition to our holiday traditions. Used the suggested recipe, very good, except the pan was a bit too full. Next time will use a little batter for a muffin or two as it spilled into the oven. The cake released perfectly. We enjoyed decorating and will use for many years to come.
Posted by Ashley
December 7th, 2017
I am obsessed with the design of this pan. I created a gingerbread Bundt cake using the recipe on this page and it turned out delicious! I gave it to a friend of mine who had a new baby and she was super impressed. Thanks for making me look good, Nordic Ware.
Posted by Sandra
November 5th, 2017
I have had this pan about 5 years. It started out that we used it only at Christmas time. Makes wonderful teacher gifts for school. My cousins and I get our kids together each year for the last four years and they each decorate their own. It makes wonderful family memories.
I have also used it for Halloween and made haunted houses. I used the purple and orange cake mixes.
Cakes are beautiful and only require a bit of powered sugar on top. So easy!
This pan has delighted all who join in on the fun of eating a cake in the shape of gingerbread house! We made several over the holidays and even presented one to a neighbor who generously snow plowed our driveway. He was really surprised and very pleased.
Posted by Melissa
December 14th, 2015
I followed the recipie on the site it was a pale gingerbread but baked up beautifully. Had you used a darker batter (molasses and dark brown sugar) the detail would have been harder to enjoy. It raised up a bit in the pan but did not spill over. I brushed the pan with coconut oil – didn’t flour it, I just made sure to cover all the details. Really pleased with how it turned out (literally and figuratively). I cannot wait to take it to my work party.
Posted by Chris
December 19th, 2014
I received this cake pan for Christmas and thought i would give it a try. I was able to get the recipe right off of this website to make sure I didnt make any mistakes. I was not confident it was going to turn out thinking the roof would break off in the pan but to my surprise it turned out perfectly! Seriously, just like the picture! This is an awesome product and sure to be a yearly tradition of making the gingerbread house. One more thing, the cake is crazy delicious. dont wait go get this pan!
