Gingerbread village is baked for charity fundraising

Femina.hu reports that a new initiative started, that is to bake a gingerbread village in which the gingerbread houses and buildings are going to be given to those in need as part of the charity fundraising.

Without doubt, the spicy smell of gingerbread is associated with Christmas, and gingerbread baking is seen as a long-standing tradition in Hungarian families. In fact, gingerbread is already present in Hungary at the beginning of Advent, given that many families bake it in advance to bring the Christmas spirit close.

Consequently, it is not a coincidence that Campona decided to make gingerbread the theme of this year’s Christmas fair.

The shopping center encourages people to build up a real, dreamlike gingerbread village, similarly to that of Debrecen last year, where the houses and buildings are going to be offered to those in need as part of the charity fundraising.

Some information about the gingerbread village

The village, that is going to be enriched with new buildings week by week, can be seen between 25 November and 20 December. In the framework of Advent, guided arts and crafts activities are going to take place in the framework of which the gingerbread buildings and cottages are going to be baked and placed onto tables on Sunday afternoons.

(If you are interested in participating in the event, you have to register for the programme in advance. You can do it here.)

The activities are going to be guided by the members of the Ékes-Édes Studio, who do not only consider gingerbread as Christmas sweets, but also as an ornament, the outcome of creative arts and crafts activities.

For the studio, working with gingerbread is indeed a real process of creation that gives delight to people. As they report:

“Gingerbread is a palpable, fragrant piece of love.”

What to know about those who help the village come true

The group is directed by Anikó Vargáné Orbán who has recently won with a wonderful cake castle creation in the Royal Icing category at the Cake Masters Award competition in the UK. The members of the Ékes-Édes Studio bake and decorate at least 100,000 gingerbread cakes year by year. They prepare to bake classical houses and cottages for the gingerbread village in Campona. Their biggest masterpiece, however, is going to be a gingerbread trousseau that is going to be taken to India as a present.

What is the secret of the good gingerbread cake?

There is no particular recipe for it, as everyone prepares it in different ways, but most probably, the secret is that the pastry should be well worked together. It is of utmost importance to have a regular surface of pastry, because the decoration can be only perfected this way. The decoration is done with the combination of albumen and powdered sugar of a 1:5 ratio. The right ratios are determined by personal experience and taste. If someone wants colourful decoration, for instance, it can be easily carried out by food colouring.

Ingredients:

• 1kg flour
• 0,5 kg powdered sugar
• 6 eggs
• 20 dkg honey
• 18g sodium bicarbonate
• 12,5 dkg butter

You can add some lemon peel, cinnamon, ginger or clove to the pastry, but in fact, only your imagination sets the boundaries. It is advisable to let the pastry rest a bit, ideally a day. During this time, it should be covered, and before it is put into the oven, work it through one more time. Gingerbread is practical to prepare before Christmas, as thanks to the honey added to the pastry, it will not perish easily.

(You can find the Hungarian recipe here.)

Advent programmes

The village is going to be constructed on Sunday afternoons, but on Saturdays between 14-17 o’clock, kids and adults can sit down and decorate gingerbread cakes that they can also take home.

The poster of the event: Gingerbread is our favourite /facebook/Campona/

Besides this, families can participate in other arts and crafts workshops at each weekend between 11-17 o’clock, where they can get to know the techniques of making candle decorations, Santa waiting gifts, Christmas tree presents and landscape paintings. And, of course, between 2-6 December, Santa Claus and his helpers also visit the shopping mall, so kids can personally meet them.

During Advent, people can participate in a prize competition where they can win a winter holiday.

However, this is the time when it is the most important to help those in need. Consequently, the shopping center awaits wrapped gifts, like books, games and school equipment, that are going to be delivered to kids who could not get presents in any other way.

The package of the games should indicate the age group to whom the present is addressed. Those who are ready to donate can do it between 25 November and 17 December, and the presents should be put into a box of the Campona Charity Fundraising.

This is a great initiative that aims to make Christmas as magical as possible for everyone. So, if you can afford, help with something that you do not use anymore, but which can be a perfect gift for someone else.

Source: femina.hu; campona.hu