PHOTOGRAPHS BY BENJAMIN C. TANKERSLEY


Closer Inspection


T e exterior is made of white chocolate, which has a higher fat


content (and thus is more malleable) than dark or milk chocolate.


Of the many embellishments, Phillips is most proud of his white-chocolate fl ag, which took two hours to make. T e fl agpole tip is marzipan rolled in gold leaf; the fl ag was shaped


with a pipe to achieve a blowing-in- the-breeze look.


Transparent gelatin sheets serve as window panes, sandwiched between chocolate window sashes.


Okay, there are a few inedible


items on display — the four working chandeliers, as well as the tiny piano in the East Room. T e Christmas trees, however, are marzipan and gum paste.


Gingerbread is cut into 35 pieces using an electric band saw that dates to the 1950s. T e thicker pieces


serve as the house’s foundation; the thinner ones are used for walls. Warm white chocolate is squeezed between connected pieces; once it dries, “it’s so solid, it’s like cement,” Phillips says.


T e 5-inch, 1-pound model of the Obamas’ Portuguese water dog, Bo, is made of condensed milk and marzipan.


Twenty magnolia cones plucked


from a tree planted by Andrew Jackson in the 1830s were sprayed with


colored chocolate to become greenery.


T e model includes the White House garden, a chunk of which is below, with chocolate-cake-crumb soil, marzipan kale, spinach and arugula, and a white-chocolate replica of the beehive (with marzipan bees).


Gingerbread goes patriotic White House chefs create a sweet masterpiece


BY KRIS CORONADO It might be the most patriotic confection in the country: The White House Gingerbread House. Weighing approximately 350


pounds, this 41-by-22-inch edible edifi ce is a miniature replica of the stately mansion as designed by architect James Hoban. “We’ve gone to great lengths to re-create every part of the White House that’s visible from the outside,” says White House executive pastry


chef Bill Yosses, who assembles the masterpiece over four days with the help of assistant pastry chef Susie Morrison and chocolatier Chris Phillips. You also can take a peek inside sweet re-creations of the State Dining Room and the East Room. While it might look tasty, we wouldn’t


recommend a bite: The gingerbread is baked two months before construction to ensure that it’s stale and hard enough to make a solid structure.


4 THE WASHINGTON POST MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 26, 2010


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