Gingerbread wow!

Culinary Arts students created a gingerbread village made with frosting flowers, candy rooftops, and a variety of sweet treats. Each gingerbread masterpiece started with an idea and blossomed into a culinary delight too sweet to eat.

The houses are the final exam for the Introduction to Baking class taught by Chef Carolyn Blackmon “My students prepared some beautiful gingerbread houses, all while cooking up the sweet and savory dishes for their final banquet,” Blackmon said. “I could not be prouder of every student involved.”

Chef Carolyn Blackmon, with students Basil Rice, Niaya Fuller, Kayla Soccio, Amelia Greentree, Kevyn Rodriguez, Raivan Manning-Moore, Ashliegh Tyson, Takao Sheridan, and Leona Lewis.

TCC’s Culinary Arts program has been donating gingerbread houses during the holidays to support Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters for more than a decade.

Baking students created a tasty array of sweet and savory treats for their final banquet.

Blackmon added, “All of the Culinary Arts instructors pitched in to help and really supported us. It was a great team effort.”

Students create gingerbread houses to spread holiday cheer and raise funds for CHKD

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, Tidewater Community College baking students were back at it, creating a neighborhood of gingerbread houses to be auctioned to raise funds for Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughter (CHKD).

TCC’s Culinary Arts program has been donating gingerbread masterpieces supporting CHKD for more than a decade. The class was led by chef Caroline Blackmon who said, “All of the Culinary Arts instructors pitched in to help and really supported us. It was a great team effort.”

TCC student Madeline Firestone added, “People deserve to enjoy the holidays and every child deserves to be taken care of to the full extent. Cooking is a way to provide for others. It’s a way to show you care.”

Spreading holiday cheer, while learning, was a bonus for all of TCC’s baking students including Angela George. “Frosty the snowman was the inspiration for my house,” she said. “Baking is in my blood, and this class made me want to get back in the kitchen,” she said.