Woman Creates Incredible Movie-Inspired Sculptures Out of Gingerbread

Gingerbread Xenomorph Sculpture

While many of us are just trying to get the hang of putting together a gingerbread house that won't collapse, motion designer Caroline Eriksson is pushing the limits of the medium. Since 2013, the Swedish creative has been producing impressive movie-related gingerbread sculptures. Her creations, which take about five weeks to complete, become more and more ambitious each year.

Once Eriksson finalizes her subject, she embarks on research before creating the 1:1 sketch that she uses as a reference throughout the process. From there, Eriksson creates a simple wire structure that provides support for her sculpture and allows her to gauge the proportions. The final step involves layering on the gingerbread, which is held together with melted sugar. Eriksson bakes all of her own gingerbread, ensuring that it's stiff enough to hold up while still giving her the textures she's looking for.  It takes about 15 pounds of flour and 11 packs of sugar to produce all the gingerbread the gifted food artist needs, which is then carefully cut into the shapes she uses to build out the sculpture.

Though Eriksson has been building gingerbread houses since she was a child, she began wondering what else she could do with the medium early on. At first, this led to gingerbread boats and castles, but then she got even more ambitious. “I entered a gingerbread competition in 2013 and made Optimus Prime, a robot from the Transformers films,” Eriksson tells My Modern Met. “I got the idea from watching the movie, thinking that a robot must be possible to build as well if starting with simple inner forms that hold up the structure and added layers of details on top. I won the contest and the picture of the transformer went viral online and in magazines. That’s where it all started.”

Over the past few years, Eriksson has created one elaborate gingerbread sculpture after the next, from The Hobbit‘s Smaug the Dragon to Alien's Xenomorph to Darth Vader from Star Wars. This past Christmas her creation came from Guardians of the Galaxy as she built an enormous Groot sitting at a table.

While most of her subjects are directly related to her love of movies, Eriksson finds inspiration in everything from architecture to geometry. This is evident in her final creations, which show a knack for fine detail and building up dimension through texture. It's these details that can be the most difficult to work out, but they're also the most satisfying for Eriksson as a designer.

“It takes a lot of time and testing to get right,” she admits, “but that is also what I find most fun—to push the boundaries for what can be done with this medium.”

Caroline Eriksson is known for her incredible movie-inspired gingerbread sculptures.

Gingerbread Sculpture by Caroline Eriksson

Gingerbread Sculpture by Caroline Eriksson

It can take up to five weeks to create these intricate sculptures, which include Darth Vader from Star Wars.

Gingerbread Darth Vader

Darth Vader Gingerbread Sculpture

Gingerbread Darth Vader

Darth Vader Gingerbread Sculpture

Gingerbread Darth Vader

Gingerbread as an Art Medium

How to Make Gingerbread Sculpture Stand Up

The Swedish designer makes all of her own gingerbread to produce characters like Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Groot.

Groot Gingerbread Sculpture

Gingerbread Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy

Creative Sculpture with Gingerbread

Groot Gingerbread Sculpture

Guardians of the Galaxy Gingerbread Sculpture

Caroline Eriksson Gingerbread Sculptures

Gingerbread Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy

Creative Sculpture with Gingerbread

Her level of detail and ability to create incredible textures has made her work go viral.

Xenomorph Gingerbread Sculpture

Xenomorph Gingerbread Sculpture

Alien Gingerbread Sculpture

Xenomorph Gingerbread Sculpture

Gingerbread Sculpture by Caroline Eriksson

Gingerbread Sculpture by Caroline Eriksson

Caroline Eriksson: Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Caroline Eriksson.

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Gingerbread Replica of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

Jessica Stewart

Jessica Stewart is a Contributing Writer and Digital Media Specialist for My Modern Met, as well as a curator and art historian. Since 2020, she is also one of the co-hosts of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. She earned her MA in Renaissance Studies from University College London and now lives in Rome, Italy. She cultivated expertise in street art which led to the purchase of her photographic archive by the Treccani Italian Encyclopedia in 2014. When she’s not spending time with her three dogs, she also manages the studio of a successful street artist. In 2013, she authored the book 'Street Art Stories Roma' and most recently contributed to 'Crossroads: A Glimpse Into the Life of Alice Pasquini'. You can follow her adventures online at @romephotoblog.
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