New York’s Most Iconic Landmarks, Rebuilt in Gingerbread

Gingerbread houses are one of the most beloved holiday traditions, but have you ever imagined New York skyscrapers made of gingerbread? Gingerbread NYC returns on November 6: bakers from all five boroughs recreate the city’s most iconic landmarks out of gingerbread, icing, and candy.

From Brooklyn’s famous brownstones to soaring skyscrapers, from charming little shops to the city’s most beautiful bridges, the result is a miniature version of America’s most famous city, and every bit of it is edible. It’s also a real competition: the entries are evaluated by a panel of judges, who hand out prizes in several categories. There’s also a People’s Choice award, and every visitor can vote for their favorite creation!

Dates and location of Gingerbread NYC

Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off, now in its fifth year, runs from November 6, 2026, through January 18, 2027, at the Museum of the City of New York, on Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, right across from Central Park on Museum Mile. Here are the hours:

• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Closed on Thanksgiving Day (November 26), Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. The museum also closes early on November 7 (5 p.m.) and November 18 (2 p.m.), and is closed all day on November 21.

How to get there

The subway is the easiest way to get to the museum:

• the 6 train to 103rd Street, then walk three blocks west
• the 2 or 3 train to Central Park North–110th Street, then walk one block east to Fifth Avenue and south to 104th Street

You can also take the M1, M2, M3, M4, or M106 bus to 104th Street.

Tickets

A sweet New York: look, but don’t eat!

This year’s theme is “Iconic New York”: each baker picks a building, place, or symbol that represents their neighborhood, community, or borough. The result is a miniature city of candy-lined streets and cookie skyscrapers, where you can wander among the scents of ginger, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

If you’re wondering whether you can eat them, sadly the answer is no. Everything is technically edible, but the pieces stay on display for more than two months and aren’t handed out to visitors. When the show closes, the bakers take them back, but after so long on display they’re no longer fit to eat.

The baking competition

Empire State Building

Chrysler Building

Hotel Chelsea

Deli Grocery

Swipe to see all the photos

For visitors, Gingerbread NYC is a charming stop on a holiday trip to New York. For the amateur and professional bakers taking part, though, it’s a serious competition with strict rules. Here are the main ones:

• everything above the base must be edible: no Styrofoam, interior lighting, or electronic components, and all candy must be unwrapped;
• the main structure must be at least 75% gingerbread, with some of it left visible;
• at least 60% of each entry must be handcrafted; up to 40% can be machine-made, such as 3D-printed or laser-cut pieces (but still edible);
• each entry must fit within a 40 × 30 × 36-inch display area and weigh no more than 50 pounds;
• besides gingerbread, bakers can use gum paste, fondant, pastillage, chocolate, modeling chocolate, royal icing, cast sugar, pressed sugar, and gelatin.

Over its first four editions, the show grew from seven bakers in 2022 to around 20 in recent years, and the subjects have become more varied and surprising. A few highlights:

• 2022: Sherry Kozlowski won Best Overall with a block of Astoria, Queens. Another standout was a charming Italian-style house by Egidio Pastry Shop, the Arthur Avenue bakery in the Bronx.
• 2023: Patty Pops took Best Overall with a tribute to hip-hop set at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, the genre’s birthplace. Other standouts included Harlem’s Apollo Theater and the Brooklyn Bridge.
• 2024: Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel by Mario DiBiase and Susanna Caliendo won Best Overall, while visitors voted Julia Kiskie’s Dakota their favorite.
• 2025: Kate Sigrist won Best Overall with the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The Statue of Liberty, the Chrysler Building, the Roosevelt Island Tramway, and the Hotel Chelsea also drew plenty of praise, and Rosy Teed’s Hotel Chelsea won the People’s Choice award.

The 2026 judges

The category winners are chosen by a panel of well-known names from New York’s food and cultural scene:

• Bobbie Lloyd, Chief Brand Officer and Chief Baking Officer of Magnolia Bakery, whose cupcakes became famous thanks to Sex and the City;
• Nadine Orenstein, curator in charge of the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a former judge of the National Gingerbread House Competition in Asheville, North Carolina;
• Amy Scherber, founder of Amy’s Bread (est. 1992), which also runs the museum café;
• Melba Wilson, owner of Melba’s, the Harlem soul food restaurant, and a James Beard Award nominee.

Source: Gingerbread NYC 2026 – exhibition page