| | | |

Eiffel Tower Gingerbread Centerpiece

I can’t spend Christmas in Paris, so I’m bringing a piece of Paris into my living room with festive gingerbread decorations. My Eiffel Tower Gingerbread Centerpiece is beautiful to look at and smells divine, too. I love how warm aroma of spiced cookie dough lingers throughout the house.

Gingerbread centerpiece decorated with white icing.

updated form 2011

EIFFEL TOWER GINGERBREAD CENTERPIECE STEP-BY-STEP

Are you tired of the same holiday décor? Are you looking for creative house decorating ideas for the holidays? Deck the halls with gingerbread!

BAKE GINGERBREAD COOKIES

For centerpieces meant to be displayed, not eaten, I use my construction gingerbread cookie dough.

I first made Eiffel Tower Gingerbread Centerpiece in 2011. The template I used before was too narrow, and so I adjusted the template to make the Eiffel tower a bit wider. A wider tower is easier to decorate. Check the tools section for the template.

Baked gingerbread cookies on baking sheet.

EIFFEL TOWER GINGERBREAD CENTERPIECE COOKIES

  • To make the centerpiece I used 4 cookies:
  • Round Base
  • Eiffel Tower
  • Small Tree
  • Mini Snowflake

Position the Eiffel tower cookie on the round base and use a scribe tool or a toothpick to mark the pathway underneath the tower (steps 1-3).

Hands holding baked, undecorated gingerbread cookies.

DECORATE WITH ROYAL ICING

Let’s start with the base cookie. Ice cookie with 15-second consistency royal icing (steps 1-6). Set aside and let the icing dry overnight.

Flooding a round cookie with white icing.

BRUSHED EMBROIDERY CHRISTMAS TREE COOKIE

Fit a piping bag with a round piping tip #3 and fill the bag with stiff icing. Start at the bottom of the tree. Pipe a scalloped edge line of icing (step 1). With a damp food-only paintbrush, brush icing inwards (steps 2-3). Dust icing with silver or white Jewel Dust – dip the dry paintbrush into the dust. Place it over the icing and gently tap the brush, dust falls onto the icing, and because the icing is still wet it will stick to it.

Dusting icing with edible sparkle dust.

Repeat the brush embroidery technique, and remember to wipe the bristles into a clean paper towel frequently (steps 1-6).

Piping icing onto a cookie and brushing it away with a paintbrush.

Lastly, pipe a dot of icing on the top and attach a large silver pearl.

Gluing a silver dragee onto a tree cookie.

DECORATE EIFFEL TOWER COOKIE

I stared off by creating a piping guide. Gently scratch the surface of the cookie with a scribe (steps 1-2).

To decorate, I used a PME piping tip #1.5 and about 25-30 second consistency icing. First, I outlined the cookie and piped the design, following the guide (steps 1-8). It also helps to have a template close by and look at it once in a while as you work.

Hand holding a piping bag fitted with a PME piping tip.

Continue piping line work. If you are not 100% sure how, watch the video. (steps 1-8). Let icing dry.

Gingerbread cookie decorated with white icing.

DECORATE SNOWFLAKE COOKIE

Snowflake cutters come in different shapes and sizes. If you can get your hands on some mins, get them. They will come in handy. But if you don’t have the same snowflake cookie cutter I used for this centerpiece, you can use another shape. For example, a star shape will also work. In my past tutorial, in 2011, I used a snowflake plunger cutter.

Decorate snowflake with white icing and immediately dust it with white sanding sugar (steps 1-8). Let icing dry.

Piping royal icing lines onto a snowflake cookie.

ASSEMBLE EIFFEL TOWER GINGERBREAD CENTERPIECE

I prefer assembling gingerbread houses or centerpieces like this on a tray lined with a rubber liner. Rubber liner is anti-slippery, and it also makes using support skewers easier.

Use thick but not overly stiff icing to glue the cookies onto the base. For taller cookies like the Eiffel Tower, I use skewers to keep the cookie from falling forward or backward while drying. Let the icing harden overnight, and then you can remove the skewers.

Gluing cookies onto a round cookie base.

Isn’t it charming? I love bare gingerbread with white icing. It’s so pretty!

Gingerbread centerpiece decorated with white icing.

BLUE EIFFEL TOWER

Try this easy ombre icing technique if you are in the mood for some color. Flood half of the cookie with dark blue and half with the light blue royal icing; both should be 15-second consistency (steps 1-5). Blend colors with a decorating palette knife (steps 6-8). Let dry.

Flooding a cookie with two blue icings.

Scratch the surface to make the piping guide.

Scratching surface of dry icing with a scribe.

Pipe lines with 25-30 second consistency icing using a piping bag fitted with a PME piping tip #1.5.

Piping an intricate design with white icing.

Once the icing is dry, you can assemble the centerpiece, and glue cookies on the base cookie. Use skewers to support cookies while the icing is drying.

Gluing gingerbread cookie decorating with blue icing onto a round base cookie.

I can’t make up my mind about these two. I like them both, and even though I’m partial to all-white icing, blue has that wintery feel that I adore.

Gingerbread centerpiece decorated with blue and white icing.

MORE CREATIVE COOKIE DECORATING IDEAS

Detail of decorated cookies.

EIFFEL TOWER CENTERPIECE FROM 2011

I fell in love with this decoration in 2011 and even though I updated my design, I think the old one deserves to be here, too.

Decorated gingerbread cookies displayed on a piece of festive tissue paper.

My first design included a candle and a snowflake cookie cut with a snowflake plunger cutter.

Gingerbread centerpiece with a candle.

TO MAKE EIFFEL TOWER CENTERPIECE YOU NEED

This post containsThis post contains Amazon affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no cost to you. I only recommend products that I use and love. Learn more about my affiliate policy here.

This post was originally published on December 15th, 2011. On November 17th, 2022 I updated this post with new step-by-step pictures and written text.

Similar Posts

4 Comments

  1. Hubby and I met in Paris, and a few years later we moved there for a year, living right by the Eiffel… so your post really brings me the nicest memories…. I must make this for the holidays this year!

  2. You’ve set up your page so the Eiffel Tower can not be pinned. Any way I try it ends up with everything BUT the tower.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *