Charleston resident constructs Old Main from gingerbread

Mackenzie+Freund+%7C+The+Daily+Eastern+News%0ABrian+Sanders+Stands+with+his+gingerbread+model+of+Old+Main+on+Sunday

Mackenzie Freund | The Daily Eastern News Brian Sanders Stands with his gingerbread model of Old Main on Sunday

Stephanie Markham, News Editor

Though the perfectionist in him picks at the little details he missed—the sidewalks made of sticks of gum are not curved like they are in reality, and the hard cookie walls are not exactly to scale—his recreation of an Eastern icon has garnered more praise than he expected.

Walking down the streets of the Charleston square, Marshall Lassak, a math professor, noticed something in one of the shop windows that caught his attention.

It was a 30 by 15 inch replica of Old Main, the classic castle image of Eastern and the administrative building that’s held every president from Livingston C. Lord to Bill Perry.

He then ran into his friend, Brian Sanders, who made the gingerbread castle with his family for a competition that was part of Christmas in the Heart of Charleston.

Lassak said what first stood out to him was the incredible detail including fire escapes made of raw spaghetti noodles covered in frosting.

“I usually make a gingerbread house each year, but nothing quite as elaborate,” he said.
Sanders, 52, of Charleston, lent his creation to the math department as a decoration for its end-of-the-year party on Friday.

In the time it was in Old Main, the gingerbread castle gained its own fame; the photo posted on Eastern’s Facebook page received more than 2,200 likes and 550 shares.

Sanders said because the competition is not widely publicized, the gingerbread Old Main probably would have gone unnoticed if Lassak hadn’t requested it.

Sanders’ family has been participating in the competition for four years, once having constructed the Coles County Courthouse.

His daughter, Haley, 14, came up with the idea of crafting Old Main and put together the candy decorations; his son, Zach, a freshman at Eastern, sketched out the designs.

“Tell your engineers it is not true to scale,” Sanders said laughing. “We did try to put windows where there were windows, and we tried to put doors where there were doors and all that.”

Hayley had the idea to make the gingerbread Old Main last year, but the family had to regroup after running into some problems.

“Last year we tried to create one and it kept breaking, so I had to do some research and come up with a new gingerbread recipe, and we put different support inside so it would not break,” Sanders said.

The new recipe includes white sugar instead of brown sugar and a mix of corn syrup and molasses instead of only molasses to create a lighter batter that Sanders felt was more true to the color of Old Main.

After revamping the recipe and making a foam board example of the castle, the family started baking.

“Friday was Halloween; Saturday was when the first batch was made,” Sanders said. “Six batches were made, and we don’t have a stand mixer so it was all by hand; (we) ruined one mixer because the Royal icing is very stiff.”

Above the two-inch base are candy gingerbread men carrying gumdrop books across green paper and, Sanders’ favorite part, LED lights inserted into the groves that mimic Old Main’s exterior lights.

Sanders cooked the curved pieces of gingerbread on top of bent cardstock, and he melted clear hard-rock candy over the window slots.

“I hope I’m true to all gingerbread makers that above that wrapping paper, everything is edible,” he said.

Yevgenya Movshovich, a math professor, ate a stray piece of the castle despite Sanders’ warning that it was old and stale; however, she said it tasted fantastic.

“Things like that that are so beautiful should also taste beautiful, and I love gingerbread,” she said.

Aside from the taste, Movshovich said she also admires the castle because society has lost its patience for details.

“We know that if we start constructing something like that, it will take time,” she said. “And our generation is afraid to put effort into something that takes time.”

Sanders said he plans to take the gingerbread house to his office at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, and though he has had some requests to preserve it, he is unsure of what its fate will be.

Stephanie Markham can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].