{"id":25301,"date":"2021-10-31T16:20:55","date_gmt":"2021-10-31T15:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bake-street.com\/?p=25301"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:25:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:25:45","slug":"dorothy-gingerbread-house-the-wizard-of-oz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bake-street.com\/en\/dorothy-gingerbread-house-the-wizard-of-oz\/","title":{"rendered":"Dorothy Gingerbread House – The Wizard of Oz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you believe me if I tell you that one of the days I look forward to the most every year is Halloween? I am fully aware that it is not our holiday, that it is very American and that we have other holidays, traditions or ways of celebrating it. I understand and respect that, but I love to celebrate, dress up and decorate the house (not to mention I love horror movies), so the Halloween pageant really appeals to me. I love it.<\/p>\n

I know this year’s costume is along the same lines as last year<\/strong><\/a>. I mean, there’s nothing scary about it, is there? There’s a witch and there’s a road that leads to a place with a wizard? I think this time it could work for us, hahaha. For this year I wanted to make the Dorothy Gingerbread House – The Wizard of Oz<\/strong>. To tell you the truth, I have hundreds of ideas in my head (I had doubt between 3 options) and, finally, I decided to choose this one. But it was not easy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Every year I enjoy more and more thinking and planning what costume I am going to wear and what recipe I am going to accompany it with. Last year I chose Fauna along with the cake she made for Sleeping Beauty<\/strong><\/a>, I really enjoyed making the cake, the video and the pictures! But this year I dare say I enjoyed it even more. Of course, this is the cake\/ cookie building (to date) that has taken me the longest time to make. The whole process of baking, assembly and decoration has taken me two weeks, plus the time of planning, design and creation of the cutters.<\/p>\n

Yes! I don’t know if I told you that my “half lemon” bought two 3D printers, well, I’m always asking him for things to print for me, hahaha. Something that I liked, a lot, is that he can design me cutters and molds, that for me is wonderful because it opens up a huge world. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done without them, many people make stencils with card stock for gingerbread houses and they work great too.<\/p>\n

\"Dorothy <\/picture><\/div>\n

If you’ve been following me for a long time, you know that I never miss an opportunity to dress up whenever I can, hahaha. Here is my version of Dorothy and Toto.<\/p>\n

The Wizard of Oz.<\/h5>\n

When I was a child I loved the movie The Wizard of Oz<\/strong>, I thought it was magical and interesting for the simple fact that each of the characters need to find something that was already hidden inside them. The message it conveyed was very valuable because it made us see that everything we desire or long to be, we have it inside. We just have to trust ourselves and bring it out. That’s the real magic.<\/p>\n

Of all the characters, I adored Lion<\/strong>. He seemed so relatable, funny, loving…. He was my favorite without a doubt!<\/p>\n

The Wizard of Oz movie was considered by the American Film Institute in 2008<\/strong> to be the #1 fantasy film in history, a legend. But no wonder considering the amazing and wonderful actress who starred in it, Judy Garland<\/strong><\/a>. Incredible woman.<\/p>\n

No one better than her to bring Dorothy to life and wear the coveted “Ruby Slippers<\/strong>“. Not to mention that she made us all fall in love with the incredible song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow<\/strong><\/a>“. It seems incredible that more than 80 years have passed since its premiere, in 1939<\/strong> this work of magic, illusion, dreams and fantasy where everything was possible.<\/p>\n

\"Dorothy <\/picture><\/div>\n
An underrated piece of work for its time.<\/h5>\n

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs<\/strong>” hit theaters in 1937 and became the most successful movie of all time in just a few months. Disney planned to continue adapting L. Frank Baum’s stories<\/strong> due to its great success, but MGM beat them to it and acquired all the rights to what would end up being the movie we all know “The Wizard of Oz” for $75,000, an exorbitant amount for the time.<\/p>\n

Metro and Luis B. Mayer made every effort to surpass the success of Disney’s Snow White. The film began shooting on October 13, 1938, with a budget of 2.777 million (approximately 48 million with 2016 inflation), and finished on March 16, 1939, having cost 3 million (51.8 million with 2016 inflation).<\/p>\n

Despite the excitement, effort and bad consequences\/facts that unfolded during the filming, the movie was not the success it was expected to be at the box office. In fact, it was a resounding flop in the United States. After passing its disinterested domestic release by audiences, the film scored a notorious success in England, Mexico, Brazil, Australia and the Scandinavian countries. They saw something that Americans were unable to appreciate.<\/p>\n

Success came little by little and over the years ‘The Wizard of Oz’ became the most legendary live-action fantasy film in cinema<\/strong>. In fact, several studies point to the fact that, with its numerous television runs, re-releases and sales in VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and 4k quality, winning over children from a multitude of generations, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is the most watched film in history<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Judy Garland was not the preferred choice to star as Dorothy.<\/h5>\n

It seems that MGM had Shirley Temple<\/strong><\/a> in mind for this role, after a negotiation that could not be, it seems that the actress who had her career more consolidated with the studio, our Judy Garland<\/strong><\/a>, won the role.<\/p>\n

The shooting was very hard for her, something embarrassing, not to mention how hard it was for her to endure all the abuse from the studio, the bad treatment received, the few hours of sleep and the fact that she had to hide her body behind a corset to look like a girl. She also combined filming with her studies.<\/p>\n

In spite of everything they might think of her, Judy Garland will go down in posterity as Dorothy for all of us. In addition, it seems that on the day of the actress’ death there was a tornado in Kansas<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Dorothy <\/picture><\/div>\n
Curious facts.<\/h5>\n

The first color film in history was “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the use of Technicolor<\/strong> was still considered something strange and even associated with the fantasy genre. In fact, at that time, black and white was usually used for more realistic stories and color for the fantasy world.<\/p>\n

So much so that in the feature film of “The Wizard of Oz”, black and white is used to represent Kansas (reality) and Oz (the fantasy world) is carried out in color.<\/p>\n

The song “Somewhere over the rainbow<\/strong>” competes with “Singing in the rain<\/strong>” for being the most iconic song in film history. The studio nearly cut this scene from the film because they felt the Kansas part was too long, and also believed that Judy Garland singing on a farm would degrade her status.<\/p>\n

The famous “Ruby Slippers<\/strong>” with which Dorothy manages to return home, originally in the books were silver<\/strong>. A very wise decision on the part of MGM, so much so that it is the most mythical footwear in the history of cinema. They even stole them.<\/p>\n

If you like this movie, you’ve probably read all about it, like the famous scene when Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man head to Oz. Even everything that happened to Margaret Hamilton<\/strong><\/a>, the actress who plays the Wicked Witch of the West.<\/p>\n

The tale had a hidden message.<\/h5>\n

One thing that really struck me is the hidden undercurrent of the film<\/strong> in which the politics and society of America of the time is depicted.<\/p>\n

Dorothy represents the traditional American<\/strong>, the brainless scarecrow represents the peasants and farmers<\/strong>, the heartless tin man represents industry<\/strong>, the cowardly lion represents politicians<\/strong> and finally the wizard represents technology<\/strong>. All the characters must follow the yellow brick road that represents gold and capital<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A very interesting read that, underneath the unveiling makes it less magical.<\/p>\n

Carrying out Dorothy’s Gingerbread house in Kansas… or rather, in the fantasy world.<\/h5>\n

When I thought of making the house, at first, I thought of making it as a cake. When I started to design it, I realized that I was limited in many aspects. Also, I needed time to make it and it could get damaged.<\/p>\n

Thinking about traditional gingerbread houses, I saw that this was a fabulous option. It allowed me to model, design and create, not to mention that I could spend as much time as I needed on the workbench. So, in the end, I chose this option.<\/p>\n

The scene I wanted to depict is the moment when the house has just blown away after the tornado in Kansas and arrives in Oz<\/strong><\/a>. Falling next to the famous yellow brick road<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But, as we are celebrating Halloween, I decided to give it a slightly spookier finish, trying to keep the original aesthetics of the house<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

To shape the house, my “half lemon”, made me cutters with the 3D printer. The truth is that they helped me a lot!!!, and made the work a lot easier.<\/p>\n

I made everything with gingerbread dough cookie and royal icing, except for the legs of the Wicked Witch of the West, which are made with plastic chocolate. Even the details to paint, is very diluted icing with coloring. For the ruby slippers I used edible red glitter.<\/p>\n

The only thing that can not be eaten, is the “green moss” that surrounds the tile path.<\/p>\n