Join us and learn how to make your own freshly baked Christmas treats, including gingerbread cookies, and how to decorate them by using your creativity and expertise!

We will teach you how to make a paper cone and how to use ready to use royal icing in different colors. The Yule Log is another classic and we will make it together by starting with a simple swiss roll sponge which we will filled with chocolate ganache. The final touches will be small mushroom-shaped meringues and other typical Christmas decorations (holly and pine cones).

We will guide you through:

• How to make a traditional gingerbread dough which you will also be able to use in case you want to challenge yourself in a gingerbread house project
• The making of a very versatile paper cone you can use to pie royal icing but also fancy writings in chocolate, on cakes
• How to prepare an amazing swiss roll sponge and a cream based luscious chocolate ganache
• The final step to add meringues and sugar paste decoration to your yule log, for a real Christmas experience

You will take home your own Yule log and a fair amount of decorated gingerbread cookies, as well as some left over gingerbread dough that you will be able to use as you please.

This masterclass will share classical techniques for making each of these components, construction of the product and tips on how transfer these skills from a professional setting into your home kitchen.

• Our Amazing Heritage: Learn at the National Bakery School, the oldest Bakery School in the UK
• Exceptional Facilities: enjoy your masterclass in our state-of-the-art teaching spaces
• Expert Guidance: our staff are passionate about all things baking, and even more passionate about sharing their expertise in fun and interactive sessions
• Sharing an experience: join together with friends or family to learn a new skill, or make them a delicious gift
• Be able to reproduce these items and avoid store bought products that have additives and added sugars

At the end of the course you will have:

• Learned how to make traditional gingerbread dough and cookie
• Learned how to make your own paper cone and use it to pipe royal icing to decorate your cookies
• Learned a separated-egg method to make a very pliable and versatile swiss roll sponge
• Learned how to make a rich and decadent chocolate ganache
• Learned how to decorate the Yule log

Cristiana Solinas 

Head of the National Bakery School

Cristiana has a deep knowledge and passion of the culinary industry and brings an empathetic communication style with an emphasis on building caring and engaging relationships with students.

A graduate of the French Pastry School in Chicago, Cristiana successful ran her own bistro in British Columbia, before embracing a career in education that eventually led to her current role as Head of the National Bakery School.

Cristiana’s inspirational and authentic teaching approach is perfect to delivering engaging and fun classes for those with every level of baking and pastry experience.

For information on our policies (payment, cancellation, terms and conditions, etc.) visit our general information page.

If you have a question that we haven’t answered here, please contact lsbushortcourses@lsbu.ac.uk and we will respond to your query within 24 hours.