I’m in 7th grade and for my history class I have to build a castle, and my family and I wondered about building an edible castle, but we really don’t know what it's going to look like and we don’t know what to use to build it. So could you give us a few pointers and possibly a picture on how to build it?

 Jeffrey, we’re not necessarily strong in the design department, but, boy, did you come to the right place! We were all set to sell you on the wonders of gingerbread, and how great a gingerbread castle could be, when one of our colleagues told us about the edible castle she made when she was in school. She made several pans of white cake, about two inches deep, and then cut them into building blocks which she pasted together with frosting. She said she used a sheet of peanut brittle for the drawbridge, licorice laces for the drawbridge chain, dinner mints for the crenellations at the top of the castle walls (though miniature marshmallows would work, too), blue Jell-o for the moat, and shredded coconut (colored green with food coloring) for grass outside the castle.

She suggests you pick out a picture of a castle you really like and try to construct it. It should be a simple design. She put frosting between the blocks to help hold everything together, then frosted the entire outside of the castle, too. A good serrated knife will help you carefully saw the cake into building blocks. You may need to insert thin skewers in the walls to hold them in place — the frosting may not be enough. You can browse in a candy store and get ideas for other parts of the castle. Our colleague said you could probably make an edible castle that isn’t sweet, but with a sweet one, she said, "it’s easier to get an A.

She also said she was the only one in the class who didn’t have a castle to take home or even to show at the parent evening, but her teacher and classmates appreciated it. Be sure to get a picture of it before it disappears.

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