Put a small saucepan on a low heat, add the maple syrup, treacle, sugar, ginger and cinnamon with 4 tablespoons of water and combine with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring until the mixture boils.
Carefully take the pan off the heat, then cube up and add the butter, saving 1 piece. Let it all melt in, stirring to combine, then grate in the orange zest.
Stir in the flour and baking powder until everything comes together as a dough – if it’s very sticky, dust it with flour, then wrap it in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Grease a baking tray with the reserved butter.
Dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour, then roll the dough out to about 5mm thick.
Using a sharp knife, cut out pieces for your house. You’ll need six pieces, in three different shapes measuring: sides: 20cm x 14cm; roof: 21cm x 7cm; gable ends: 10cm (base) x 14cm (outer sides) x 18cm (apex). Any scraps can be pressed together and rolled out for the next pieces.
Place your house pieces onto the tray, leaving a 1cm gap between them. Bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden and slightly darker around the edges.
Let the gingerbread cool completely before icing.
Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks then, while whisking, gradually mix in the icing sugar till you have a dense stiff meringue. Use this to glue your gingerbread pieces together.
Decorate with sweets, using more of the icing as glue, then very lightly dust with glitter for sparkly snow.
