Weyes Blood

By Zofia Ciechowska. Image by Carlijn Potma

Glimmers of laughter pierce Natali Mering’s serene mood as she describes filming her new music video for ‘Bad Magic’ with drone cameras in Red Hook and admits she wouldn’t mind wearing a lettuce bikini in the summer. In the winter, she sticks to dressing up hippy gingerbread men in psychedelic buttercream clothes, which are here for you to bake and savour as the snow melts.

Your gingerbread man can be smoking a candy cane or listening to the Grateful Dead. Once you’ve applied his frosting clothes, add a small puddle of food colouring to a dish. Use a toothpick to make swirls in it. Choose a new colour and repeat until you’ve made an edible psychedelic mess. Note: the food colouring used in this amateurish recipe will stain your mouth, and most likely your intestines.

Natalie’s Gingerbread Hippy Men

For the gingerbread
270g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
4 tbsp gingerbread spice mix
1/2 tsp ground bitter orange peel (optional)
2 large eggs
100g light brown sugar
100ml molasses
125g butter
100ml heavy cream (about 35-40% fat) 

For the frosting
150g butter, softened
180-210g powdered sugar
200g cold cream cheese
food colourings of your choice
dried or fresh cranberries

How to make Natalie’s Gingerbread Hippy Men

• Grind spices, then mix with flour, baking soda, salt and ground orange peel.

• Heat oven to 175ºC. Butter and flour your baking tin.

• Beat eggs and sugar until fluffy. Add molasses and beat until smooth.

• Melt the butter in a saucepan, add cream and milk.

• Gradually add dry ingredients and butter mixture to the egg mixture.

• Pour butter into man-shaped molds and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Frosting

• Beat butter, add powdered sugar and beat until fluffy. Then add cream cheese and beat until smooth.

• Apply frosting clothes when gingerbread man is cool.

Weyes Blood plays on 25 February at OT301 in Amsterdam. The show is free for Subbacultcha members.