- the broadmoor resort in colorado has astounded everyone with yet another gingerbread creation as part of an annual tradition going back to 1964.
- their project this year was a replica of the broadmoor special, driven by (who else?) santa claus.
- the broadmoor special was owned by resort founder spencer penrose and is an iconic race car that ran the pikes peak international hill climb eight times.
drive, drive as fast as you can, but you can't catch me, i’m driving a gingerbread race car, man. we think that's what was going through the head of the broadmoor resort's executive pastry chef, adam thomas, the mastermind behind this sweet creation that will sit in the lobby of the famous colorado resort until the new year.
the broadmoor special, a famous race car from the 1920s and 1930s, was re-created in gingerbread as part of broadmoor resort's annual holiday tradition of constructing fantastic gingerbread creations starting in 1964. the actual broadmoor special was a 1918 pierce-arrow touring car that broadmoor founder spencer penrose had converted into a proper race car. his chauffeur, harry mcmillen, and broadmoor master mechanic angelo cimino modified the car in 1922, and it competed in the pikes peak international hill climb eight times over the span of 10 years from 1922 to 1932. the car completed the climb to the summit successfully in all eight attempts and had a highest finish of fourth place two times, first in 1926 and again in 1930.
the car was used to promote both the pikes peak hill climb and the broadmoor resort, a feat it executed admirably, as both the hill-climb and resort are internationally known. the broadmoor special ran as recently as 2016, when it made an exhibition run in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the pikes peak event. the real car currently resides in the penrose heritage museum in colorado springs.
47 pounds of molasses was only the beginning
the replica race car is truly a marvel of mouth-watering engineering, with more than 1000 pounds' worth of ingredients. the wooden base it sits on was constructed by two woodworkers before the car was assembled. with the display stand ready, thomas and 15 pastry chefs began their confectionary challenge, using an ingredients list as impressive as the actual creation. they needed 375 pounds of flour, 482 pounds of sugar, 425 whole eggs plus 700 egg whites, 200 pounds of brown sugar, 100 pounds of honey, eight pounds of salt, 47 pounds of molasses, 412 pounds of butter, two pounds of yeast, a pound of activated charcoal, a pound of baking soda, 1.3 pounds of baking powder, six pounds of holiday spice, 300 pounds of dark chocolate, and 100 pounds of white chocolate.
this kind of grocery list is common for the broadmoor around this time of year, and this isn’t even the largest replica they’ve constructed so far. in recent years, they’ve built a 13.5-foot-tall, 120-square-foot replica of the original 1918 resort and a replica of the broadmoor’s cog railway train. santa, naturally, is sitting in the driver's seat of the gingerbread broadmoor special.
all this talk of gingerbread and racing and cars makes us want to suggest next year's theme: how about smaller, and edible, gingerbread people representing history's great race-car drivers?