Creation a holiday delight

Jean-Luc Daul, executive pastry chef for the Four Seasons resort, was covered in edible glitter.

"It's my Tuesday night look," Daul joked.

The 41-year-old chef and his team of seven pastry chefs weren't about to hit the Strip's Dionysian dance clubs.

Instead, they were in the midst of constructing their annual Gingerbread Village.

This year's confectionery hamlet, which features 20 gingerbread houses and a giant working carousel made of chocolate and sugar, goes on display in the lobby of the Four Seasons today and can be seen through Dec. 25.

Originally from France where he went to culinary school, Daul came to work at the Four Seasons on the Strip a decade ago. The Gingerbread Village idea was introduced a year into his tenure.

The 2008 village has a city hall, firehouse, police station, chapel and railroad depot among the buildings. All the structures are made with sugar and chocolate and other yummy delectables molded and colored to give a traditional winter feel.

"It's hard to get the feel for Christmas here (in Las Vegas) because of the weather and palm trees," Daul said.

The village also is created with charitable intentions along with the holiday spirit, Daul said.

Each individual structure can be purchased at the front desk of the Four Seasons. All the money raised will be donated to the Nevada Cancer Institute.

The houses will be sold for $300 to $450. "We put a sold sign on the house" once it is purchased, Daul said. The donor receives a deed with each purchase and a plaque is affixed to the house. Almost like an official real estate transaction, Daul said.

Once the display is taken down on Dec. 26, the owner can take the house home.

And since it is almost completely edible, the owner can probably eat it too, Daul said.

The buildings are made of sugar, marzipan and molding chocolate, Daul said. Some Styrofoam is used in the display, he added.

On average, each house is 9 inches by 9 inches square and stands about a foot high, the chef said.

Daul said each house takes between a day and a day and a half to build.

His crew has been constructing the village since early September, often working long hours, Daul said.

The detailing of each house is intricate, down to the most minute details such as shutters on windows, siding on houses and smiles on characters.

Food coloring is used to give each structure vibrancy, and chocolate is often used as a gluing agent.

The creamy, sugary smell of white chocolate exudes from each structure.

In years past the village often resembled small towns found in the Swiss Alps, Daul said. But this year's structures make use of a myriad of colors and are somewhat surreal, having similarities to buildings drawn in Dr. Seuss books.

For instance, the village's brewery resembles a keg with froth pouring over the top and some very happy workers.

Daul said only one structure was lost this year during the three months it took to make the village. The chapel had to be rebuilt after the original fell off the edge of a table, he explained.

The carousel, which is 24 feet long and 16 feet tall, and has horses ridden by elves, is made up of gingerbread, sugar and chocolate along with a wooden base and an electric motor that makes it turn.

In a display of inter-holiday cooperation, Daul said the elves were made from Easter egg chocolate molds.

A $2,500 donation can be made for the carousal, but because of its size it cannot be taken home, Daul said.

Anne Wingert, 70, of Tucson, Ariz., passed by Tuesday night as Daul and his crew set up this year's display.

Wingert, who was spending Thanksgiving in Las Vegas, recalled last year's village and its audience.

"There were a lot of little children. They were star struck," by the chocolate, Wingert said.

Wingert said she looked forward to seeing this year's village completed.

Watching the children stare at the village makes all the hard work worth it, Daul said.

Donations from for the village raise about $10,000 every year, Daul said.

The cost to make the village, not counting the labor, is about $5,000, he said.

The important part to remember is that it's almost all edible.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904.