A few years ago I read a post by Phyllis over at All Things Beautiful on how to make an edible Roman road (she has made most posts private now, so I removed the link). I thought, “I’m totally doing that in my history lesson when we next study Ancient Rome.” Fast forward a few years, I stalked her blog, found the post and pinned it to my Mystery of History 2 board. Then I set about gathering supplies and modifying it to what I was able to find.
Supplies for an edible Roman Road
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- graham crackers
- melted butter (I did about 1 stick, if you want exact measurements check out Phyllis’ post)
- chocolate pudding
- chocolate chips
- whipped cream (or whipping cream and powdered sugar)
- shortbread cookies (wow that is a horrible cost for those cookies)
To cut down on sugar overload I’m eliminating one of the layers in Phyllis’ edible Roman road.
Mixing and creating your edible Roman road
First, mix up your chocolate pudding and whipped cream. Somewhat off-topic, but can I just say I love my Hand Mixer, I’m noticing I might need a new one soon.
Future Ticia 2023, I did have to order a new mixer very shortly thereafter, and I’ve since burned out at least 2 more.
After you’ve mixed up the chocolate pudding let it sit for a few minutes and then mix in the chocolate chips.
While those are setting up smash the graham crackers into smithereens. Mix up the crumbs with the butter.
Now, you’ve got all the mixing done and are ready to add in your layers.
- Smooth in the graham cracker crumb layer. After you’ve added it, take a moment and pat it down a little bit. That will make adding the next layer easier.
- Spread the chocolate chip pudding mixture in. Watch the kids start to drool as they imagine the sugar rush they’re going to get.
- Add the whipped cream on top. Now you’re ready for the final layer.
Add on your shortbread cookies for the final layer of the edible Roman Road.
What are each of these layers in your edible Roman Road?
Well, I’m glad you asked. Here’s what they are:
- The graham cracker and butter is the sand that was laid to make the road level.
- The chocolate pudding and chocolate chips is the mortar stone that would be mixed together to make a strong base.
- The Whipped cream represents the concrete layer. Random side point, historians believe Romans invented concrete.
- The shortbread biscuits represent the limestone paving stones that are the final layer.
Roman Roads were so sturdy and well put together that they were used for hundreds of years after the Roman Empire fell. For years afterwards, people would come and pry out the stones to use in their own buildings because they were so well cut. Even today, over 2000 years later you can still find the remains of the Roman roads throughout Europe.
For the rest of our Roman posts head over to Hands on Roman History.
For more Roman inspiration
Originally published January 13, 2015
It’s amazing how quickly time passes between seeing great ideas, and getting around to doing them. That is a fantastic project.
Especially if you’re doing a chronological history like I am, I’ve got ideas hidden away for the next several years worth of school.
My kids would LOVE this project. It’s a great visual, too!
It really is, I’m so glad Phyllis shared her original version to get me thinking along these lines.
I didn’t know all these details about Roman roads. Great project for hands-on learners!
Their roads amaze me, some of them are still there to this day, 2000 years later. That amazes me.
This really is a great, fun project to learn about roman roads – of course, now I’m craving pudding. And shortbread cookies. Oh, and whipped cream.
Reading blogs often gets me craving food.
Did you refrigerate before eating?
Hmmmm….. That’s a good question, it’s been a few years since we did this, and I think we may have been so excited when it was done we had an immediate serving, and then refrigerated the rest. It probably would have set up better if we’d refrigerated and THEN served it.
Hi, I’m from the UK. I love this idea and want to do it with my class, however when you say chocolate pudding what type of thing do you mean? Do you mean like nutella (chocolate spread)?
Thanks!
You could use Nutella chocolate spread, it would be a bit thicker than the pudding we used. Ours was the instant pudding you can buy at grocery stores here. I’m not exactly sure what the equivalent would be over there. I tend to think of Nutella holding its shape a bit more than this pudding does.
I checked with some British friends, and they suggested chocolate mousse or angel delight. They said angel delight is the closest in terms of consistency, it’s a bit more airy than what I used, but is closer than a mousse.