Kimberly Lin-McCartney leads three-metre edible Christmas tree construction

An army of 12 pastry chefs are baking and assembling 5,000 gingerbread cookies on an acrylic structure to create a three-metre high edible Christmas tree at Corinthia Hotel London.

The recipe needed for this mammoth task includes 80kg flour, 48kg golden syrup, 3kg cinnamon, 180 egg yolks and 5 litres of milk.

Head pastry chef Kimberly Lin-McCartney said: “This tree’s a giant – it’s taking over the kitchen. We are spicing the biscuits really heavily to make the whole lobby smell deliciously Christmassy.

“It took some team ingenuity to get the structure into the hotel as many of the doors and entrances are narrower than the tree.”

The tree will be decorated with handmade baubles and edible holly leaves sprinkled in shimmer powder. Corinthia Hotel London last week took delivery of the main structure for the tree which is three metres high and two metres wide. The tree is part of the hotel’s Christmas lobby treats for guests which will also include complimentary mini mince pies and mulled wine alongside chestnuts roasted in the hotel’s courtyard and personally foraged by Executive Head Chef Garry Hollihead. Guests to the hotel will be able to enjoy the tree from 29 November.