Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas 4.

Heat the golden syrup in a saucepan on a low heat until it liquefies. Leave it to cool.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger.

Add in the butter and rub it together using your fingertips until fine breadcrumbs form.

Mix in the sugar.

Beat the egg into the cooled syrup.

Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the egg/syrup mixture.

Gently combine it to form a rough dough.

Lightly flour a work surface and knead the dough until it is smooth - this shouldn't take long.

Lightly flour the dough and roll out to a thickness of about 5mm.

Using the downloaded template, or, a ruler to measure out the dimensions (check the notes), cut out the following pieces: 4 x walls, 2 x roof, 4 x chimney

Transfer the pieces to a lined baking tray and cook in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown.

Transfer to a wire rack to completely cool down.

Make the Royal icing by whipping the egg whites with an electric whisk until stiff and white.

Sift in the icing sugar a bit at a time, stirring to incorporate it after each addition.

Whisk again with the electric mixer for about a minute, the icing should be very thick and very white.

Transfer to a piping bag ready to assemble the house.

Pipe around the edges of the end pointy walls (an outline on the back of the piece).

Attach the side walls to one end wall.

Add the other end wall to the ends of the side walls.

Pipe icing on the tops of the walls, and gently place the roof pieces on top.

Leave to set, saving any spare icing to decorate with later (you can store it in a piping bag in the fridge, make sure the end is closed).

Decorate with the icing by adding wavy patterns on the roof and details like a door and windows on the walls.

Use the royal icing to make any other separate decorations stand up on the board (I did trees). If they keep falling over, prop them up with cocktail sticks until the icing is dry.