Mini gingerbread house template for a mug
A mug-rim house is a normal six-piece gingerbread house, just small and thin. A 2 × 2 in house with 1.5 in walls needs 53 g of dough, and 3 of them bake on one half sheet pan. The table gives the piece sizes for five small houses and three metric ones, and each row opens a template you can print at actual size.
| Footprint | Walls | Gable wall | Roof panel | Dough | Per half sheet | Template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.75 × 2 in | 1.25 in | 1.75 × 2.13 in | 2.5 × 1.49 in | 44 g | 4 | Open |
| 2 × 2 in | 1.5 in | 2 × 2.5 in | 2.5 × 1.66 in | 53 g | 3 | Open |
| 2 × 2.5 in | 1.5 in | 2 × 2.34 in | 3 × 1.56 in | 58 g | 3 | Open |
| 2.5 × 3 in | 2 in | 2.5 × 3.25 in | 3.5 × 2.02 in | 94 g | 2 | Open |
| 3 × 3.5 in | 2 in | 3 × 3.5 in | 4 × 2.37 in | 119 g | 1 | Open |
Dough rolled to 1/8 in, 1/4 in roof overhang, side walls between the gables, roof pitch 45° except the third row (40°). Dough is the pieces only, without trimmings. Per sheet means all six pieces of each house on an 18 × 13 in half sheet pan, with the same gaps and rim margin the generator uses.
Metric sizes
| Footprint | Walls | Gable wall | Roof panel | Dough | Per 40 × 30 cm tray | Template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 × 5 cm | 3.5 cm | 4 × 5.5 cm | 6 × 3.3 cm | 38 g | 3 | Open |
| 5 × 6 cm | 4 cm | 5 × 6.5 cm | 7 × 4 cm | 55 g | 2 | Open |
| 7 × 8 cm | 5 cm | 7 × 8.5 cm | 9 × 5.4 cm | 96 g | 1 | Open |
Dough rolled to 3 mm, 5 mm roof overhang, 45° roof.
Why thin dough
A house on a rim has to stay light, or it tips into the drink. Dough thickness is the easy lever: the 2 × 2 in house above at 1/8 in uses 53 g, and rolled to 1/4 in it would use twice that, since the area is the same and the thickness doubles. The Schwartz mini mug house recipe rolls its dough to 3-4 mm and bakes the pieces 10-12 minutes at 180°C (350°F, 160°C fan), which matches the 1/8 in used here.
Thin pieces also cook fast, so check them early instead of trusting the full time. A low wall and a gentle roof keep the weight down as well.
The generator lets you change the dough thickness and the overhang. Both are in the links above, so each template opens with the thin-dough setting already filled in.
How a round rim changes the fit
A tiny house that perches on the edge of a mug is described in a Not Martha post (an archived copy). A wall is straight and a rim is a circle, so a longer wall meets the rim at a worse angle. The table shows how far the rim falls away from a straight line as long as the house is deep, for three rim diameters. Smaller numbers mean the wall sits closer to the mug.
| Rim diameter | 2 in wall | 2.5 in wall | 3 in wall | 3.5 in wall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 in | 0.38 in | 0.67 in | 1.5 in | too long |
| 3.5 in | 0.31 in | 0.53 in | 0.85 in | 1.75 in |
| 4 in | 0.27 in | 0.44 in | 0.68 in | 1.03 in |
On a 3.5 in rim, a 2.5 in wall leaves 0.53 in between the wall's ends and the rim, and a 3.5 in wall leaves 1.75 in. Longer walls leave larger gaps. Measure the diameter across the top of your own mug, since mugs often measure roughly 3 to 4 in across.
The slot is up to you, because the generator draws plain gable houses. Print the template, cut the pieces, and cut a notch along the bottom edge of one wall that is the thickness of your rim plus a little for the dough's spread. Check the rim with a ruler first: the thickness varies between mugs. A dry run with a paper copy over the mug is quicker than a failed bake.
Your own mug
Open the template generator with the 2 × 2.5 in house, change the size to suit your mug, and print the pieces at actual size. To put them together, see the assembly guide. Several houses at once, or a different pan? The one-sheet guide lists larger houses that bake on one pan, and the icing guide has the royal icing amounts.