An Encanto gingerbread house is a family home wrapped around a courtyard, not a cottage in the woods. White walls, a row of arched doors facing in, clay tile roofs and one tall green tower are what make anyone think of the Casita.
Our house dough and royal icing recipes set every bake temperature and wait, and the free template was checked so every roof sits square. If you want it to glow, three tea lights slip in from the back. And all six arched doors glow amber, while the tower lifts off like a lid so its one high window can shine like a candle.
You will end up with a Casita about 8 1/2 inches tall at the tower, made in four sessions over two days plus a finishing morning, with two easier versions. Start with the template, then the shopping list, the day-by-day plan and 16 steps.
Encanto Gingerbread House: At a Glance
- Difficulty: Hard. There are 22 pieces and two batches of dough, but every piece is a flat rectangle or a simple point, and the tallest part stands on its own.
- Total time: about 2 1/2 days, in four sessions plus a finishing morning. Most of it is icing drying.
- Active time: about 7 3/4 hours, counting the dough chill and the bakes.
- Makes: two wings 6 inches long and 2 1/2 inches deep, set at a right angle around a courtyard, with a tower 2 1/4 inches square and about 8 1/2 inches tall, on a 12 inch square board.
- Template: free 3-page PDF, US Letter, true size with a 1 inch test bar on every page.
Tools: printer, ruler, scissors, rolling pin with 1/4 inch guides, parchment, 3 half sheet pans, paring knife, 4 piping bags, two small round tips, offset spatula, small cups or cans for propping, 12 inch square cake board, 3 battery LED tea lights.
Materials
- 2 batches of sturdy gingerbread house dough
- 3 batches of royal icing
- About 20 yellow and orange hard candies
- About 4 graham cracker sheets, sage green, orange, brown and leaf green gel food coloring, and a spoonful of pink and yellow flower sprinkles
Steps
- Print the template at Actual Size and measure the test bar.
- Make the dough and chill it for at least an hour.
- Roll the dough 1/4 inch thick and cut the four long walls.
- Cut the four end walls and the four wing roof panels.
- Cut the tower walls and the four tower roof triangles.
- Bake at 300 degrees F, then melt candy into the doors and the tower window.
- Trim every piece against the template while it is warm.
- Ice the walls white and the tower green while they lie flat, and leave them overnight.
- Stand the walls of both wings on the board and wait 2 hours.
- Set the four wing roof panels and wait 4 hours.
- Build the tower, set its roof and stand it in the inside corner.
- Pipe the clay roof tiles from the eaves up.
- Pipe the door frames and window trim, then let it cure overnight.
- Lay the graham courtyard around the tower.
- Pipe the vines and press on the candy flowers.
- Light the Casita with three LED tea lights.
Notes: times are worked out from the set times on our icing page, not timed on a build. Ovens and doughs vary, so treat every bake time here as a starting point: check early, go by the matte surface and firm edge, and bake a test strip before you build.
Free Printable Encanto Gingerbread House Template
The template is three US Letter pages with 22 pieces, drawn at true size. Download the PDF, print it at Actual Size or 100 percent, and put a ruler on the red 1 inch bar before you cut anything. If the bar measures an inch, every piece is right.
| Piece | Cut | Size | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front wall | 2 | 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 in | Three arched doors for candy glass at the outer end, with three bare window squares above. Flip the second copy so its doors sit at the other wing’s outer end. |
| Back wall | 2 | 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 in | One round-top light doorway, 1 3/4 inches wide, so a tea light slides in from behind. |
| End wall | 4 | 2 1/2 in wide, 4 1/4 in to the peak | Closes both ends of both wings. The long walls tuck between them. |
| Wing roof | 4 | 6 1/4 x 2 in | Two per wing, meeting at the ridge. Grey guide lines mark the tile rows. |
| Tower front and back | 2 | 2 1/4 x 6 1/2 in | One copy gets the small arched window near the top. |
| Tower side | 2 | 1 3/4 x 6 1/2 in | Tuck between the front and back, so the tower is 2 1/4 inches square. |
| Tower roof | 4 | 2 3/4 in triangles | Lean together into a four-sided point. |
The sizes are worked out so the build goes together without trimming. Each wing is a simple box: its long walls are 3 1/2 inches tall, the same as the eaves of the end walls, so the roof rests evenly on all four. The roof rises 3/4 inch over a half width of 1 1/4 inches, a pitch of about 31 degrees, low like a clay tile roof and gentle enough that the panels sit without sliding. Each 2 inch roof panel covers its slope with about 1/4 inch to spare at the eave. The tower walls stand 6 1/2 inches, almost twice the wing walls, so it reads as the tower from across the room, and it is 1 3/4 inches square inside, room for a 1 1/2 inch tea light underneath.
Solid black lines are cuts, red dashes are openings you cut out, the brown dash and dot squares are windows you leave bare, and the grey dotted lines are guides that you never cut. If you want a different shape next time, our other printable houses print and fit the same way.
What You Need for the Casita
You need two batches of dough, three batches of royal icing, a handful of hard candies, a few graham crackers for the courtyard and four gel colors. Everything else is kitchen gear you probably own.
For baking
- 2 batches of dough that holds a sharp edge. The 22 pieces come to about 220 square inches. One batch covers about 225, which leaves nothing for re-rolled scraps or a spare, so make the second batch.
- About 20 yellow and orange hard candies for the six doors and the tower window, unwrapped and crushed in a zip bag.
For the icing
- 3 batches of royal icing that dries hard, made one at a time. The first is thinned with a few drops of water at a time for flooding: most of it stays white for the walls, and a cupful turns sage green for the tower. The second stays thick for gluing and white trim. Most of the third becomes the tiles, with a little left green for the vines.
- Orange gel food coloring with a touch of brown, for clay tiles.
- Sage green and leaf green gel food coloring, for the tower and the vines.
- Two small round tips, one for gluing and tiles, one finer for trim and vines.
For the courtyard and garden
- About 4 graham cracker sheets, snapped along their lines into small tiles.
- A spoonful of pink and yellow flower sprinkles, or any tiny candy flowers.
Tools
- Rolling pin with 1/4 inch guide strips, parchment and 3 half sheet pans
- Paring knife, scissors and a ruler
- 4 piping bags, the two round tips and an offset spatula
- A few small cups or cans for propping
- A 12 inch square cake board
- 3 battery LED tea lights, 1.5 inches across
How Long It Takes, Day by Day
Plan on four sessions over two days, plus a morning to finish, for about 7 3/4 hours of hands-on work counting the chill and the bakes. The rest is waiting, because royal icing needs time to harden completely before it can carry weight, and the flooded walls need a night to dry before they stand.
| When | What you do | Hands-on | Then wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Print, make and chill the dough, cut, bake and trim, melt the candy doors, then flood the walls white and the tower green once the pieces are cool. | About 4 1/2 hours with chilling and baking | Overnight, pieces flat |
| Day 2, morning | Stand the walls of both wings, and glue the four tower walls into a box on parchment. | 35 minutes | 2 hours |
| Day 2, late morning | Set the four wing roof panels, and lean the four tower roof triangles together on parchment. | 25 minutes | 4 hours |
| Day 2, afternoon | Set the roof on the tower and stand it in the corner, pipe the tiles on every roof, and pipe the door frames and window trim. | About 1 1/2 hours | Overnight |
| Day 3, morning | Lay the graham courtyard, pipe the vines and flowers, and light it. | About 40 minutes | Overnight before you move it |
The waits are the ones our icing guide gives for any house: 2 hours before anything sits on or leans against new walls, 4 hours before decoration, and overnight, 8 to 12 hours, for a full cure. In a damp kitchen, add time. In a dry one with the heat on, it goes a little faster.
Say you want it on the table for a birthday on Sunday afternoon, so you bake on Friday. You flood the walls Friday evening while a movie plays, and on Saturday you stand the wings at 9, set the roofs at 11 and pipe the tiles after lunch, which leaves only the courtyard, the vines and the lights for Sunday morning. The planner below does that arithmetic for any date you choose.
Encanto Casita Build Day Planner
Pick when you want the Casita finished. The planner counts back through every drying time and tells you when to start baking.
For planning only: icing sets faster or slower with the weather, so treat each wait as a minimum and check that joints feel firm before moving on. Not professional baking advice. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
How to Make an Encanto Gingerbread House Step by Step
Each step does one job, and the “why this matters” lines explain the reasoning behind the steps that keep two wings and a tall tower standing.
1. Print the template and measure the test bar
Print all three pages at Actual Size or 100 percent, never Fit to Page, and put a ruler on the red bar, which should read exactly 1 inch. Then cut out the paper pieces, including the doors, the light doorway and the tower window. You only need one paper copy of each shape; you cut the dough as many times as the template says.
Why this matters: the bar is the only way to know the page printed true before you spend an afternoon on dough.
2. Make the dough and chill it
Make two batches of the house dough, one after the other, split each in two, and flatten each half into a disc about an inch thick, then wrap the discs and chill them for at least an hour. They are ready when a poked disc dents and stays dented.
Why this matters: cold dough cuts with clean edges and spreads less in the oven, so the walls stay the size of the template.
3. Roll the dough and cut the four long walls
Roll a disc at a time on parchment, to an even 1/4 inch between guide strips. Cut the two front walls with their three arched doors, keeping the doors at the end marked outer. Cut the two back walls and the light doorway in each. Leave the small window squares on the front walls uncut; they are only marked. Pull away the scraps and slide the parchment straight onto a pan.
Why this matters: cutting on the parchment means you never lift a soft wall, and a lifted wall stretches out of square before it ever reaches the oven.
4. Cut the end walls and the wing roof panels
Roll the next disc and cut the four end walls, each a rectangle with a low point on top, and the four long wing roof panels. If you want windows on the two outer end walls, mark the two bare squares from the template; the inner end walls hide behind the tower and can stay plain.
Why this matters: all four roof panels are the same size, so cutting them together on one sheet keeps them identical and the two roofs match.
5. Cut the tower walls and the tower roof
Roll the last of the dough and cut the four tower walls, cutting the arched window from one front and back piece only, then the four tower roof triangles. Keep the triangles on their own pan with any small scraps.
Why this matters: the small triangles bake much faster than the big walls, so on a shared pan either they burn or the walls come out underbaked.
6. Bake the pieces, then melt candy into the doors
Check as you go: every oven runs a little hot or cool, so use these times as a guide, not a timer. Look through the oven door often, and trust the matte surface and firm edge over the clock.
Bake at 300 degrees F. The walls and roof panels take 22 to 30 minutes, until the surface looks matte and the edge feels firm under a fingertip. The tower roof triangles are much smaller, so start checking them at about 12 minutes. Pull the pan with the front walls and the tower window piece out about 5 minutes early, fill each door and the window two candies deep with crushed yellow and orange candy, and bake again until the candy has melted flat and glassy, checking after 5 minutes.
This is the same way you melt candy into a window on any house: the candy flows once it reaches the hard crack stage, which Colorado State University Extension puts at 300 to 308 degrees F at sea level. That is right at this oven’s temperature, so it melts slowly. If the candy is still lumpy after about 10 minutes, raise the oven to 325 degrees F and watch it closely. At high altitude, the target drops about 2 degrees for every 1,000 feet, so check sooner, because candy that melts early can brown.
Why this matters: melted candy is far hotter than the cookie around it, and it burns fast once it pools.
7. Trim every piece while it is warm
Within two minutes of each pan coming out, lay the paper piece back on top and trim any edge that spread past it. Then leave everything on the pan until it is completely cool and flat. Do not lift a door wall until the candy has hardened. When a cooled scrap bends a little and then snaps cleanly, the pieces are ready.
Why this matters: warm gingerbread trims cleanly with a knife, while cooled gingerbread tends to snap exactly where you did not want it to.
8. Ice the walls white and the tower green while they lie flat
Thin the first batch of icing a few drops of water at a time until a line drawn through it with a knife closes up in about 10 seconds. Pipe a thick white outline around the edge of each front wall, each door and each bare window square, then flood the space inside with white and nudge it into the corners with the offset spatula. Do the back walls and the outer end walls the same way. Tint a cupful sage green and flood the four tower walls. Leave the doors, the window squares and the light doorways bare. Let everything dry flat overnight.
Why this matters: flooding a wall while it lies flat gives smooth stucco with no drips, and the bare cookie squares become the upstairs windows without a single extra cut.
9. Stand the walls of both wings
Set the board in front of you with one corner pointing away. The first wing runs along the back left edge and the second along the back right edge, at a right angle, and the courtyard fills the corner nearest you. Each wing’s inner end stops about 1/2 inch short of the line of the other wing’s front wall, so the two never touch, and the open square behind that corner is hidden later by the tower. Pipe icing along the bottom and side edges of an end wall and stand it, then press a front wall against it, doors at that outer end and facing the courtyard. Add the back wall and the inner end wall to close the box. Build the second wing the same way along the other edge, prop both with cups and leave them for 2 hours.
Why this matters: the two wings never touch, so each is a simple four-wall box that squares itself, and neither has to line up with the other at a tricky corner joint.
10. Set the four wing roof panels
Pipe a thick line of icing along the sloped edges of both end walls of a wing and the top edges of its long walls. Lay the first roof panel on, flush with the inner end wall and overhanging the outer end a little, and hold it for a minute. Set the second panel the same way, butting it against the first along the ridge, and pipe a line of icing into the ridge seam. Do the second wing, then leave both for 4 hours.
Why this matters: keeping each roof flush at the inner end is what leaves room for the tower to stand in the corner without bumping an eave.
11. Build the tower and set its roof
While the wings set, glue the tower on parchment, not on the board: stand a front or back wall, press a side against its edge so it tucks behind, and close the square with the other two walls, window wall facing the courtyard. Lean the four roof triangles together into a point on a second sheet of parchment and pipe icing into each seam. After the 4 hour wait, pipe icing along the top edges of the tower and set the roof on. Then stand the tower in the corner of the courtyard, about 1/2 inch in front of both wings.
Why this matters: a tower glued only to itself is a lid. Lift it straight up and you can slide a tea light underneath, and the tallest piece carries none of the wings’ weight.
12. Pipe the clay roof tiles from the eaves up
Tint most of the third batch of icing orange with a touch of brown, keep it thick, and fill a bag fitted with the round tip. Start at the bottom edge of one wing roof: squeeze a short, fat teardrop, pulling it down toward the eave, then pipe the next one right beside it, all the way along. Start the next row on the grey guide line, about 1/3 inch higher, so its tips cover the tops of the row below. Carry on to the ridge, finish with a row along the ridge itself, then do the other roofs and the four faces of the tower roof the same way.
Picture an eight year old taking a turn on one row of the tower roof. The teardrops come out every size, and it does not matter, because real clay tiles are never quite even, and the next row covers half of every one.
Why this matters: orange tile roofs over white walls are what make the house read as the Casita and not a snowy cottage, and piping from the bottom up is what makes each row overlap like real tiles.
13. Pipe the door frames and window trim
With thick white icing and the fine tip, pipe a frame around each arched door, then one line down its middle so it reads as a pair of doors. Pipe a thin frame around each bare window square and the tower window. Let everything cure overnight.
Why this matters: a crisp white frame is the detail that turns a candy shape into a door, and it hides any rough edge where the candy met the cookie.
14. Lay the graham courtyard around the tower
Snap the graham crackers along their lines into small tiles. Spread a thin layer of icing over the open corner of the board a little at a time and press the tiles into it in rows, starting at the base of the tower and working out toward the open corner. Fit the first row snugly against all four sides of the tower.
Why this matters: a snug ring of tiles holds the tower in place like a collar, so it cannot slide when the board is bumped, but it still lifts straight up when you want the light inside.
15. Pipe the vines and press on the candy flowers
Tint the last of the icing leaf green and pipe thin, wavy vines up the white walls from the ground, between and around the doors, with a few short side shoots. Press flower sprinkles into the wet vines here and there.
Why this matters: flowers climbing the walls are what make the Casita feel alive and not just tidy, and wet vines are the glue that holds every flower.
16. Light the Casita
Switch on two LED tea lights and slide one into each wing through the light doorway in its back wall, and the six doors glow. Lift the tower straight up, set the third light on the board where it stood and lower the tower back over it, and the high window glows like a candle in the window. Use only battery lights. A real candle inside sugar and butter walls can scorch them, which is why our guide sticks to battery tea lights. Let the finished Casita stand overnight before you move it.
Keep track as you go with the checklist below, which remembers your ticks on this device and tells you exactly when each wait is over.
Encanto Casita Build Checklist
Tick each step as you finish it. When a step needs icing to set, the checklist tells you the time it is safe to carry on. Your ticks are saved on this device.
0 of 16 steps done
No waits running yet.
For planning only: set times change with the weather, so press a joint gently before you load it. Not professional baking advice. Your progress is saved in this browser only and never sent anywhere.
Why the Casita Is Two Wings and a Freestanding Tower
The house in the film wraps around a courtyard, and the easy way to build that in gingerbread is a single L with a corner joint. It is also the hard way. Two roofs meeting in a corner make a valley that has to be cut at an angle, and a tall tower glued to both wings pulls on everything around it while the icing is wet. One homemade Casita on Reddit was posted with the joke that it was “so movie accurate it crumbled”, and a corner joint is exactly where a build like that gives way.
So this design takes the corner joint out. Each wing is its own four-wall box with a plain gable roof, and the two boxes stop short of each other at the back corner, where the tower hides the gap. The tower stands on its own in front of that gap, held by the courtyard tiles instead of glue. Picture a family that builds the tower straight onto the wings. It looks fine for a day, then the tall wall settles, pulls one wing out of square, and a roof slides. Here, every piece only has to hold itself up.
The look comes from cheap details instead of hard baking: candy for doors, bare cookie for windows, graham crackers for paving and icing for tiles and vines. A tower that sits over its own light is the same trick as our lighthouse that sits over its light, so if you have built one, the tower will feel familiar.
Troubleshooting
If it goes wrong, most problems come from loading icing before it has set, or from heat and humidity, so here is what to look for and what to do about it.
| What you see | Why it happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The flood icing runs off the edge | It was thinned too far, or the outline had a gap | Stir in a spoonful of powdered sugar and re-pipe the outline. Wipe the drip with a damp brush before it dries. |
| The white looks blotchy or cratered | Air bubbles, or the wall was moved while wet | Pop bubbles with a toothpick in the first minutes, and leave the pieces where they lie until morning. |
| A wing leans while it sets | The icing was soft, or the props came away too soon | Push it square, add stiffer icing inside the joints and prop it for the full 2 hours. |
| A roof panel slides toward the eave | It was let go too soon | Lift it back up, add icing and hold it a full minute. A low roof like this one settles quickly. |
| The tower roof triangles will not meet in a point | Spread in the oven, or the seams are too dry | Shave the long edges a little and fill the seams with thick icing. The tiles hide them. |
| The tower rocks or tips when touched | The board is not level, or the tiles are loose around it | Set the board on a flat table and press the first row of tiles tight against all four sides. |
| A door candy browned or bubbled | It stayed in too long, or you are at high altitude | Check from 5 minutes. The white door frames hide small bubbles at the edges. |
| The candy did not melt | A 300 degree oven sits right at the candy’s melting point | Give it a few more minutes at 325 degrees F and watch it. |
| The tiles slump into a smear | The icing is too soft | Stir in powdered sugar until a piped teardrop holds its shape. |
Easier Versions: No-Bake and Kit Shortcuts
If two batches of dough is too much this year, the same Casita works two simpler ways.
A No-Bake Graham Cracker Casita for Small Kids
Graham crackers make a smaller Casita with no oven at all. For each wing, stand four half sheets on end in a box, glued with royal icing, and lean two more on top as a roof. For the tower, stand four whole sheets on end in a tall square and top it with a pointed sugar cone. Set the wings at a right angle with the tower in the corner, then pipe orange tiles, white door shapes in yellow icing and green vines. A no-bake graham build of any shape lives or dies on the glue, so use royal icing, not tub frosting, for the walls.
Picture a six year old who wants to help but cannot wait two days. Build the graham wings with them in the morning, let them set over lunch, and they pipe the tiles and press on the flowers that afternoon. The gingerbread Casita can be the grown-up project for the weekend.
The Kit Shortcut
Two plain kits with pitched roofs make the wings. Build them as usual, set them at a right angle on a board, and ice the walls white over the kit’s own panels. Kit walls will not have arched doors cut in them, so pipe arched door shapes in yellow icing instead, with white frames. Make the tower from three of the leftover kit pieces cut to narrow rectangles, add the tiles, courtyard and vines from the steps above, and nothing in the second kit goes to waste.
Storage Instructions
Humidity is what softens gingerbread and makes sugar and candy sticky, so keep the Casita in a cool, dry room, away from the stove, the dishwasher and sunny windows. Cover it loosely with a clean cloth if dust is a worry. Switch the tea lights off when no one is looking, and slide them out before you put the Casita away.
Treat it as a decoration once it has stood out for a few days. Royal icing made with raw egg whites is not cooked at any stage. If you plan to eat some, make the icing with meringue powder instead.
FAQ
Is this the Casita from the Encanto film?
It is our own courtyard house in that style, with no characters, logos or film artwork. The white walls, glowing doors, clay tiles and tall tower are what make people think of the film. Best Gingerbread Houses is an independent site and is not affiliated with Disney.
How big is the finished Casita?
The tower is about 8 1/2 inches to the tip of its roof, and the wings are 4 1/4 inches to the ridge. With the roofs, the whole house covers about 9 1/2 inches each way, so it fits a 12 inch square board with a little room all round.
Can I use a real candle inside?
No. Use battery LED tea lights, because the Casita is sugar and butter walls under roofs of icing, and a flame inside it can scorch them.
Can you eat a gingerbread Casita?
The gingerbread is edible when fresh, but this is built as a display piece, and hard candy and graham tiles are choking risks for very small children. Royal icing made with raw egg whites is never cooked, so if you want to nibble it, use meringue powder icing and eat it soon after it is finished.
Can I build just one wing and the tower?
Yes. One wing and the tower make a smaller Casita on a 10 inch board, and the pieces come to about 140 square inches, which one batch of dough covers. Stand the tower by the wing’s inner end, about 1/2 inch in front of it, so it still hides the plain end wall.
Can I make it bigger?
Yes. Print at 125 percent for a tower about 10 1/2 inches tall. Every piece still fits, because the long walls tuck between the end walls at any size. The pieces come to about 340 square inches, which two batches still cover, with less to spare, and you will need a 15 inch board.
More Gingerbread House Builds and Recipes
If the Casita made you want another, the rest of all nine Disney houses are waiting, and the candy glass ice palace uses the same candy trick as these doors. Set the Casita at the end of a lane and build a whole street. And when something sags, our help for when a wall starts to lean works on any house.
Build Your Next House With Best Gingerbread Houses
The Casita proves the point we come back to on every build: a few strong details tell the whole story. When you want a head start next time, our guide to the kits worth starting from sorts the ones that stay standing from the ones that do not, so you can spend your time on the doors, the tiles and the tower.