WASHINGTON – The Basilica of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception in Washington has sometimes been called
“a hymn in stone.” This year, it can also rightly be called
“a hymn in gingerbread.”
That is because Charles Froke, the executive pastry chef at
the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown, has recreated the
national shrine as the hotel’s 2010 massive gingerbread
replication of a Washington landmark.
The gingerbread shrine will be on display in the hotel’s
lobby through the Christmas season.
“I’ve made a lot of cool buildings (out of gingerbread) in
the past, but nothing like this,” said Froke. “In the past,
I’ve done the National Cathedral, the Smithsonian Castle, the
White House, the Capitol and Healy Hall at Georgetown
University, but this is the most ambitious one to date.”
Froke, a Catholic who attends St. Ann Church in Washington,
crafted the gingerbread shrine out of more than 125 pounds of
a specially prepared gingerbread dough.
“It is a little more sturdy and not as sweet as regular
gingerbread,” the pastry chef explained.
The creation also includes about 55 pounds of icing and 20
pounds of sugar. He used dyes to create the shrine’s ornate
blue dome. The stained-glass windows – which are illuminated
by electric lighting – are made from colored liquid sugar.
“I was delighted to learn that Mr. Froke chose the national
shrine as his subject for this year’s gingerbread artistry,”
said Msgr. Walter Rossi, the shrine’s rector. “My hope is
that by depicting this great patronal church of the United
States, the attention of those who view the ‘gingerbread
shrine’ is called to the sacred meaning of Christmas, not
only the secular.”
Msgr. Rossi added that he visited the Four Seasons Hotel to
view what he called the “masterpiece.”
“I called Mr. Froke to congratulate him on his work and to
thank him for choosing the shrine,” Msgr. Rossi said. “Our
selection testifies that in addition to being a center of
worship for the Catholic Church in the United States, the
national shrine is a Washington landmark.”
Froke said it took him about 70 hours to create the
gingerbread replica.
But, before he started baking, he spent hours at the shrine,
taking photos and making blueprints. Hundreds of individual
gingerbread pieces were baked and then put together with
“mortar” made of icing.
Although he has been executive pastry chef at the Four
Seasons for almost eight years, Froke said he has been making
gingerbread houses almost all of his life.
“My mom and I started making gingerbread houses when I was 3
or 4,” he said.
Reaction to the gingerbread national shrine has been
overwhelmingly positive, the pastry chef added.
“People have gone crazy for it,” he said. “I got a call from
someone who wanted to fly me out to California to reproduce
the national shrine there.”
As a Catholic and a pastry chef, Froke said it was his hope
that his gingerbread national shrine “earns me some brownie
points in heaven.”
