Artist Christine McConnell is known for her amazing projects that celebrate the holidays in an unconventional—and often eerie—way. Last winter, she transformed her parent’s house into the witch’s cottage from Hansel and Gretel. It was complete with gingerbread gravestones and terrified gingerbread men. This year, her Christmas-themed endeavor is on a much smaller scale, but equally as incredible. She “tried her hand” at a Gingerbread castle that’s not only massive, but completely edible.

Food.com hired McConnell to create a holiday spread, and the fairy tale-like castle is the centerpiece. Standing at around five feet tall, the impressive architecture was shaped with a Dremel tool. In addition to its gothic silhouette, it includes inlaid candy glass windows with intricate, hand-painted details throughout. What’s even more remarkable is the gingerbread’s structural integrity. “There’s no supports of any kind,” McConnell explains, “and everything (aside from the lights) is edible.” It took her a full month of 10 to 15 hours per day to finish.

In addition to the eye-catching palace, McConnell’s spread features other tasty goodies. The table has a shortbread Christmas tree with “presents” made from fudge, as well as almond brownie pine cone critters. And one of McConnell’s creations wouldn’t be complete without a touch of spookiness. She made a sugar cookie guillotine to represent the darker events that took place at medieval castles. (There's even a beheaded snowman!)

For adventurous bakers who want to try this sort of thing at home, McConnell has included recipes at Food.com.

McConnell documented the edible masterpiece in progress:

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h/t: [Boing Boing]

All images via Christine McConnell.