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You can smell it before you see it, the air thickly perfumed with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. And then when you do see it, there’s a moment of cognitive dissonance: How could a giant everything bagel with crispy, toasted onion flakes smell sweet?
That’s because this massive, intricately crafted bagel is actually made of gingerbread as part of Museum of the City of New York’s annual Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off 2025. More than a dozen bakers across the city crafted their own versions of iconic NYC places, buildings and spirit, with the bagel sculpture collecting three awards this year. You can go see all of the gingerbread creations (and vote for your favorite) at the museum in East Harlem now through January 19, 2026.
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Now in its fourth year, Gingerbread NYC welcomes professional and amateur bakers to design fully edible gingerbread structures. This year’s “Iconic New York” theme saw everything from brownstones and Broadway to skyscrapers and subways.
For Juliet Galea, choosing to create a bagel and a to-go coffee was a natural fit. “No matter where you’re from in the world, here in the city, we’re all connected by a bagel and a coffee. It doesn’t make a difference where you’re from or if you speak English or not,” she tells Time Out.
To create the design, she had to contend with making her food-inspired structures solid but not over the contest’s weight limit. She made the bagel out of gingerbread, then covered it in a tan-colored fondant, added royal icing as cream cheese and created capers out of fondant. To make the onion flakes, she chopped up coconut flakes and torched them. For the cup of coffee, she stacked discs of gingerbread cookies, then covered those in fondant and hand cut the design. Finally, she used rice paper to make a napkin for her coffee stirrer.
Galea’s hard work paid off, as she won three awards in the contest, as selected by an elite panel of judges including Melba Wilson, owner of Melba’s Harlem; Amy Scherber, owner of Amy’s Bread; and Nadine Orenstein, a curator at the Met and former judge of the National Gingerbread House Competition.
“The biggest thing that I love about this is just like the joy that I get to make it and then the joy of the people who are enjoying it,” Galea says. “This is like edible poetry.”
Bakers César Aldrete and Ricky Rotandi chose to create the Statue of Liberty for their gingerbread creation, as they were drawn to the statue for what she represents. “On top of that, we decided to make all of these gingerbread people, showing diversity. We wanted whoever comes closer to it and looks at it to be like, ‘oh, that kind of looks like me,’” Aldrete tells Time Out.
They spent three weeks on the project, beginning with a trip to the Statue of Liberty for research. Then, they made their design out of cardboard for practice. Next, they made 20 pounds of cookie dough, sculpted a Rice Krispie core for the statue and started assembling all the details. To get the design of the statue just right, they pulverized some of the gingerbread cookies to create a material with a Play Doh–like consistency for sculpting into intricate details.
Aldrete (a.k.a. Bearded Foodie) is a chef and food stylist, while his partner Rotandi is a preschool teacher who describes himself as “creative and competitive.” The duo won season 36 of reality TV show The Great Race. In this competition, they took home the award for best borough spirit in the Manhattan division.
While icing and gingerbread were main components in many displays, bakers got creative with other edible materials, too. Kit Kats became stairs on a brownstone, Pirouette cookies doubled as building columns and pretzels formed a porch.
Other designs in the competition include a Broadway stage complete with gingerbread people representing various shows, like Hell’s Kitchen, The Book of Mormon and Wicked; a rendering of Hotel Chelsea; and a detailed portrayal of the Victorian New York Botanical Garden. Some more obscure icons find a home here too, including an adorable re-creation of Edgar Allan Poe’s cottage in the Bronx (complete with a black cat on the porch) and the historic Conference House in Staten Island. Go see how many landmarks you can name—and pick your favorite of the bunch for the people's choice competition.
Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off 2025 is on view at Museum of the City of New York from November 7 through January 19, 2026. Find it at 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street in East Harlem. General admission costs $23 for adults, with admission discounts for seniors and kids. New York residents are invited to pay what you can. Admission is free every Wednesday for all.