Artist's stunning gingerbread castle puts gingerbread houses to shame

The holidays are upon us, which means it's time to put your baking skills to the test. Or in this case, step aside and leave it up to the professionals.  Gingerbread aficionado Christine McConnell created an elaborate, five-foot-tall gingerbread castle in time for this year's festivities, putting lowly gingerbread houses to shame.  SEE ALSO: World's oldest woman shares her secret to long life: Eating eggs and cookies Image: christinemcconnell/imgur Mashable reached out to McConnell, who told us Food.com asked the baker, photographer and author to create a holiday spread for their site, giving McConnell the perfect opportunity to create a dessert masterpiece.  Given the level of detail, you would think this castle is based off of an existing location, but it's not. "The castles not based off any existing one," she said. "I wanted it to look as fairytale'ish as possible."  It took her a full month working 10-15 hours per day to pull it off.  "The castle was the biggest baking project I've done and It was so exciting to see it come together from nothing," McConnell said. She also made a gold gown for the occasion. Image: christinemcconnell/imgur Image: christinemcconnell/imgur McConnell even made candy glass windows and decorated them all with little candy wreaths.  Image: christinemcconnell/imgur Image: christinemcconnell/imgur Image: christinemcconnell/imgur Image: christinemcconnell/imgur If you're obsessed with McConnell's eye for detail, you can check out more of her work here.  BONUS: Signs Your Friend Just Bought a GoPro