Gingerbread house chimney template
A gingerbread chimney is four pieces: two plain rectangles and two side pieces whose bottom edge is cut at the same angle as the roof. On the medium 6 × 8 × 4 in house with a 45° roof, the chimney is 1.5 in square. The uphill face is 1.5 × 1.5 in, the downhill face 1.5 × 2.75 in, and each side piece is 1 in wide, 1.75 in tall on one edge and 2.75 in on the other.
Print the medium house with its chimney
Chimney sizes for each preset
These are the generator's preset houses with dough rolled 1/4 in thick. "Side piece" gives its width, then its short and long edge. Every row opens the generator with the chimney already ticked, so the pieces print at actual size next to the walls and roof.
| House | Roof | Chimney | Uphill face | Downhill face | Side piece, cut 2 | Template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small 4×5×3 | 45° | 1 in sq. | 1 × 1 | 1 × 1.75 | 0.5; 1.25 to 1.75 | Open |
| Medium 6×8×4 | 45° | 1.5 in sq. | 1.5 × 1.5 | 1.5 × 2.75 | 1; 1.75 to 2.75 | Open |
| Large 8×10×6 | 45° | 2 in sq. | 2 × 2 | 2 × 3.75 | 1.5; 2.25 to 3.75 | Open |
| Fits one baking sheet 4.5×5×3 | 45° | 1.13 in sq. | 1.13 × 1.13 | 1.13 × 2 | 0.63; 1.38 to 2 | Open |
| A-frame 6×8×0 | 60° | 1.5 in sq. | 1.5 × 1.5 | 1.5 × 3.67 | 1; 1.93 to 3.67 | Open |
The A-frame has a steeper 60° roof, so its side pieces drop 1.73 in across their width where the 45° houses drop exactly as much as the piece is wide. A chimney adds little dough: about 67 g on the medium house, scraps included, so it usually comes out of the trimmings.
Chimney sizes in centimeters
The same rule on three metric houses, with dough 6 mm thick:
| House (cm) | Chimney | Uphill face | Downhill face | Side piece, cut 2 | Template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mini 10×12×8 | 2.5 cm sq. | 2.5 × 2.5 | 2.5 × 4.4 | 1.3; 3.1 to 4.4 | Open |
| Classic 15×20×10 | 3.8 cm sq. | 3.8 × 3.8 | 3.8 × 6.9 | 2.6; 4.4 to 6.9 | Open |
| Large 20×25×14 | 5 cm sq. | 5 × 5 | 5 × 9.4 | 3.8; 5.6 to 9.4 | Open |
How I size the chimney
I could not find a recipe or pattern that gives a rule for chimney size, so this is my own. The outside of the chimney is a square, a quarter of the house's shorter side. On a 6 in wide house that is 1 1/2 in. The uphill face, the one nearest the ridge, is as tall as the chimney is wide. Thick dough on a tiny house would leave no hole in the middle, so the chimney never gets smaller than two dough thicknesses plus 10 mm.
The uphill and downhill faces run parallel to the ridge and are full width. The two side pieces fit between them, so they are two dough thicknesses narrower. All four pieces reach down to where they touch the roof, and the top comes out level.
If the roof is too small for that square plus a chimney's width of roof above it, the generator leaves the chimney out and says so.
How to cut the slant
The bottom edge of each side piece slopes at the roof pitch. Across a piece of width w, it drops w × tan(pitch). At 45° tan is 1, so the drop equals the width. That is why the medium house's 1 in wide side piece runs from 1.75 in to 2.75 in.
- On paper or card, draw a rectangle as wide as the side piece and as tall as its long edge.
- Mark the short edge height on one side, measured down from the top.
- Join that mark to the bottom corner on the other side with a ruler. That line is the slant. A protractor set to the roof pitch from the horizontal gives the same line.
- Cut the template out and use it for both side pieces. Turn one over so the two slants face each other on the roof.
The generator does all of this for you: the side pieces print already slanted, with the top edge marked.
The slant at other roof pitches
The medium 6 × 8 × 4 in house, chimney 1.5 in square, with the roof set steeper or flatter. Steeper roofs make the downhill face and the long edge of the side pieces grow fast, and the chimney covers a longer strip of the roof.
| Roof pitch | Short edge | Long edge | Drop | Strip of roof covered | Template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30° | 1.64 in | 2.22 in | 0.58 in | 1.5 × 1.73 in | Open |
| 40° | 1.71 in | 2.55 in | 0.84 in | 1.5 × 1.96 in | Open |
| 45° | 1.75 in | 2.75 in | 1 in | 1.5 × 2.12 in | Open |
| 50° | 1.8 in | 2.99 in | 1.19 in | 1.5 × 2.33 in | Open |
| 60° | 1.93 in | 3.67 in | 1.73 in | 1.5 × 3 in | Open |
| 75° | 2.43 in | 6.17 in | 3.73 in | 1.5 × 5.8 in | Open |
"Strip of roof covered" is the chimney's footprint measured on the roof panel: its width along the ridge, then its length down the slope. The roof pitch guide shows what each angle does to the walls and roof.
Assembly order
- Build the walls and set the roof first. The assembly guide covers that part. Let the roof firm up before anything leans on it.
- Mark the spot on one roof panel: the uphill face about one chimney width below the ridge, measured along the roof.
- Pipe royal icing along the slanted bottom edge of one side piece and stand it on the roof. The Food.com "My First Gingerbread House" recipe starts the same way: one angled piece on the roof near the peak.
- Add the downhill face (the bigger rectangle), then the second side piece, then the uphill face. That is the order the Food.com recipe gives.
- Hold each piece for a minute until the icing grabs, and fill gaps at the roof with more icing. The Great British Bake Off recipe glues its four chimney sections together and then onto the roof, which also works if you would rather build the box on the table first.
Sources
Assembly order from Food.com and The Great British Bake Off; neither gives chimney sizes. The sizing rule and every number on this page are my own calculation, the same one the generator uses.