See iconic NYC buildings made of gingerbread in this beautiful exhibition
Coney Island has gotten a lot of attention in pop culture this year. Its Wonder Wheel is on the cover of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis’ concept album Warriors. The amusement park freezes in the movie Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Its retro rides were the backdrop for our very own magazine cover with Ellie the Elephant.
And yet, a new Coney Island creation is perhaps the most iconic—and certainly the most delicious—take on the legendary locale yet. The Wonder Wheel has now been re-created in gingerbread as part of “Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off” at the Museum of the City of New York. In this sweet sculpture, Yukon Cornelius rides on the Ferris wheel while eating a hot dog, the elves party on their day off and Rudolph embraces his candy red nose. It’s one of the 20 incredible gingerbread NYC structures you can see at the Manhattan museum this holiday season.
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All the gingerbread houses in the exhibition must be made completely out of edible materials, such as cookies, icing and candy. It’s an extremely challenging and demanding task, but this year, 60 ambitious bakers entered the contest vying for 20 spots, the museum’s COO Jerry Gallagher told Time Out. This year’s theme, Iconic New York, saw many gingerbread buildings, such as the Bronx Zoo and the Prospect Park Boathouse. But Gallagher also savored watching how people interpreted the theme to include other quintessential New York objects.
“Some of my personal favorites that some of the bakers did this year is they veered away from iconic buildings and went toward iconic things,” he said. “So we have pizza, a sanitation truck, subway stations. I just love that people are really thinking outside the box.”
Each year, judges examine the entries, awarding accolades to the best bakers. Judges for the third annual contest included experts in baking and fine art, so they truly know their way around gingerbread artistry.
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Creating the Coney Island confection demanded about 100 hours of work from Susanna Caliendo of Something Sugared and Mario DiBiase of SottoVoce Restaurant. The duo combined Caliendo’s award-winning baking skills with DiBiase’s engineering mindset. Their hard work paid off, as the team racked up a bevy of awards from this year’s judges. They won accolades for best overall, most unique, good enough to eat and best borough spirit for Brooklyn.
Always up for a challenge, DiBiase said he and Calidendo chose to make the Wonder Wheel “because it was very hard to make.” But they also wanted to evoke fun and joy with their nostalgic design inspired by the classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” claymation. Look closely to see the details: 100 sticks of gum to make “asphalt,” Santa riding in a train with Twizzler tracks, an elf taking a selfie (or an elfie), and seagulls stealing hot dogs. It all comes together to create the Coney Island of Misfit Toys.
“We wanted to be whimsical; we wanted to have fun,” DiBiase said. “I guess it paid off.”
Another award-winner was a gingerbread creation of Southern Boulevard in the Bronx by Petroula “Patty” Lambrou of Patty Pops. The design features the Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden and Fordham University in a snowy, candy cane-studded scene.
Meanwhile over in Manhattan, Julie Kiski of OuiBakely created a staggeringly accurate recreation of The Dakota apartments with decorated windows and a taxi out front.
Other creations feature a teeny-tiny Rockefeller Center ice skating rink, a Yorkville bodega (complete with a bodega cat!), a precise Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, Belmont Park Racetrack and Fort Wadsworth. Go see them all at Museum of the City of New York in East Harlem now through January 12. Take the elevator up to the exhibit, and you’ll smell the sweet-spicy aroma even before you enter the room.