The gingerbread master is at it again.
Chef Jon Lovitch is on track to nab a fifth Guinness World Record for largest gingerbread village with his frosted wonderland on display at the New York Hall of Science.
GingerBread Lane features 1,320 candy-coated edible houses. He earned last year’s record with 1,251 gingerbread structures.
The houses will officially be counted and evaluated for Guinness on Friday, along with his recipes for proof.
Creating the record-busting display is a year-round process that requires making 5,000 pounds of royal icing and 400 pounds of gingerbread, as well as incorporating 700 pounds of candy — mostly scrounged from post-holiday sale racks.
“I have to keep the holidays and Christmas season on my mind every day of the year,” said Lovitch, who lives with his wife, Judith, in Forest Hills.
“But it’s such a great feeling when people see it and they are just thrilled. You really can’t emulate that with anything else.”
This year, Lovitch is spreading that magic and cheer to science centers and museums in Orlando, Baltimore and Hartford via slightly smaller versions of GingerBread Lane.
At the Hall of Science in Queens, Lovitch has added many new touches, including The Partridge and Pear Tree pet rescue center and the 12 Drummers Drumming Music School.
Four-year-old Jiyue Zhu’s face lit up when she saw the hand-crafted sugary wonderland.
“This is the first time she has seen it,” said her father, Jay Zhu.
“It’s amazing how gingerbread can make such beautiful artwork.”
It’s hard to keep excited kids (and adults) from touching the village, which is mounted on a tiered display, guarded by candy canes.
Youngsters, however, can try their hand at building their own gingerbread house at a series of workshops at the Hall of Science. Other local educators have taken it a step further and used GingerBread Lane as a way to teach concepts of urban planning, chemistry and math in the classroom.
Students at PS 160 in Queens map out their own gingerbread village and decide what kind of services are needed, including police and fire departments, restaurants and schools, said Assistant Principal Cheryl Bender.
“They map out what supplies they will need and use math skills to determine how many boxes of graham crackers, containers of frosting and bags of holiday-themed candy that will be needed to create this year’s Gingerbread Community,” she said.
Lovitch said he is thrilled youngsters are using his creation for inspiration inside the classroom.
“That’s why I work with museums and science centers,” he said. “I think GingerBread Lane should be in a place of learning rather than a mall.”
