A Giant Gingerbread House in the Land of Giants
Shanghai, December 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- During the Christmas season, the air is always filled with the sweet and warm aroma of gingerbread. On December 4, 2014, during the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao unveiled the mystery of Shanghai’s largest gingerbread house, bringing the city’s most festive Christmas “essence.”
Shanghai’s Largest Gingerbread House at Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao
Step into the hotel, and you simply can’t miss the giant gingerbread house tucked in a corner of the lobby. With intricate Christmas decorations, adorable Nordic reindeer, and whimsical British soldiers, all set against the glow of warm lighting, it feels like you’ve stepped into a fairytale wonderland.
Step inside the gingerbread house, and you’ll feel as though you’ve wandered into the land of giants from a fairy tale. The overwhelming aroma of gingerbread, edible walls and windows, delicate and cute Christmas displays, and vintage-style home furnishings absolutely fulfill children’s ultimate fantasies and adults’ childhood dreams. Moreover, the gingerbread house is also filled with a variety of Christmas desserts, such as Norman cheese strawberry Yule log cake, Christmas barley tea pudding with cinnamon dessert cups, and honeyed dried fruit cookies — definitely helping you check off your entire holiday shopping list in one go.
The largest gingerbread house measures 8 meters in length, 4.5 meters in width, and 2.6 meters in height. It was built by seven top pastry chefs who spent a full 72 hours constructing it using over 1,300 pieces of gingerbread, each weighing 600g. This breathtaking Christmas gingerbread house was entirely designed and created by the hotel’s engineering department and master patissier Cheng Shu along with his team.
Mr. Cheng Shu is one of Asia’s top chocolate and dessert art masters, and his works have won numerous awards in national and international competitions. Since 2009, Mr. Cheng has represented the Chinese team in the 9th Hong Kong International Food Festival Live Pastry Art Design Competition, where he won a silver medal. In the same year, his designed and crafted desserts participated in the Shanghai FHC International Culinary Challenge buffet display and won a gold medal. In 2010, he was awarded the Excellence Contribution Award by the Chinese Chef Association. In April of the same year, Mr. Cheng represented the Chinese team in the 3rd Singapore Pastry Asian Cup, winning the honor for Best Chocolate Cake and successfully advancing to the top three, earning a spot in the finals in Lyon. In 2011, he received accolades for Best Plated Dessert and Best Chocolate Creation in the Greater China Pastry Asian Cup qualifiers and won the gold medal in the preliminaries. In 2012, Mr. Cheng was once again selected as the Chinese team representative to compete in the 2012 Pastry Asian Cup. His chocolate dessert plating once more earned a gold medal in the qualifiers.