Chocolate Architecture 101

Tips: This isn’t so much a recipe as it is a party game. The idea here is that you have a large, sturdy worktable (it must be sturdy!) with chairs surrounding it, aluminum foil to cover the table, and participants to construct. The edifice doesn’t have to be planned in advance (although it can be if you wish); usually, I just start “building”, using the various materials below with frosting as the mortar, and see what kind of structure you get as it develops. People can build individual projects or cooperate on one (or more) larger structures; you can also play “switch”, where everyone works on an individual project for a set length of time, then switches to the next project to the right or left for an equal length of time, and so on until they are back at the building on which they started (you can get some interesting results this way).

This is a natural for kids, but I took my construction materials to a party and some of the adults were just as enthusiastic about the whole thing. You must expect two things: first, that some of your building materials will be eaten before anyone can use them to construct anything, and second, a mess. If your party guests are going to be dressed up, please provide another form of entertainment!! Paper towels are useful for as-you-go-along cleanups, and you might wish to provide toothpicks to help hold some structures together (any structures built are likely to be fragile at best, considering the materials you’ll be using). Make sure to take pictures when everyone’s finished! Of course, you can add to the list of materials below or substitute others as you wish. If you have any marshmallow chicks left over from Easter, they make great gargoyles.

Construction Materials:

• Graham crackers (honey or chocolate)
• Chocolate wafers (I use Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers)
• Sugar wafers
• Chocolate chip cookies, preferably on the smaller side, or other round cookies not as flat as the chocolate wafers
• Ice cream cones, preferably pointed (useful for making towers)
• Large marshmallows

Mortar:

• Canned frosting, preferably chocolate, though vanilla can be useful for decorating
• Plastic knives for spreading the mortar

Decorations:

• Life Savers, gummy or regular
• M & M’s
• Good n’Plenty
• Mike n’Ikes
• Round peppermints
• Colored sugars

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