gingerbread model toronto

You can now build edible models of Toronto designed by award-winning architects

Your Halloween-related diet exemption is now over one month in the past, and it's time for one last binge of goodies for the holiday season before you sheepishly step back on the scale for your New Year's resolution.

So what better time than the holidays to turn the societal pressures of excessive Western consumption into a charitable and fun family affair, all through the time-honoured tradition of building tiny houses out of gingerbread and candy decorations?

Gingerbread houses are becoming more about the tradition than actually being traditional, and every holiday season, you’re bound to see local landmarks and streetscapes recreated in the spicy but sweet baked good.

And now you can build delicious renditions of landmarks like the CN Tower and City Hall yourselves without actually having to put in all the work of planning, shaping, and baking the components of your gingerbread creation.

Working with the help of accomplished architects Diamond Schmitt and award-winning bakery, The Rolling Pin, organization The Change Bakers is selling gingerbread kits to bring some Toronto architectural wonder into your holiday celebration while supporting a good cause in the process.

gingerbread model torontoHélène Timpano of The Change Bakers tells blogTO that the idea sprouted from a family gingerbread competition with more than ten years of history.

"We've seen so much interest from our family and friends, every year, people that we never talked to at other times of the year come out of the woodwork to cast their vote."

"And so we were thinking, well, how can we actually do good with this? Like, it's all fun. But you know, how can we actually put all this interest to good work."

Luckily, they had the connections to make it happen, and it didn’t take long to bring on some big partners in their big-name architecture firm and baking partner, with Timpano adding that "everyone was really excited about bringing this idea to life."

The two kits for sale at $100 each come boxed with pre-baked gingerbread, decorations, and assembly instructions to quickly build either of the two Toronto landmarks.

All profits will be donated to Toys for Tots Canada, which supports children in need, and kits come with a tax receipt of approximately $40, so you can write off a portion of this holiday activity as a charitable expense.

"I think we've sold more than 70 kits already," says Timpano. "So it's been nice to see that the interest expands outside of just our family and friends network, too."

So far, they've seen more interest in the CN Tower model than the City Hall version, but after changing up placement on the website, the team has hopes that the latter might begin to generate more interest.

Photos by

The Change Bakers


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