This Capitol looks good enough to eat (but you shouldn’t)

What do you get when you combine 144 cups of flour, 24 cups of brown sugar and 28 pounds of powdered sugar? 

The 2025 Capitol gingerbread house, crafted by Fred Johnson, John Selick and a crew of dedicated chefs who bring the annual tradition to life. The replica of the Capitol will go on display this week, filling the halls of Congress with the sweet smell of gingerbread once again.

Johnson, who used to be an executive chef for the House’s former food vendor Sodexo, now works for the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer as a contract administrator. But his role in the process hasn’t changed — it’s always been done on his own time, he said. And this year he’s collaborating with Selick, culinary director for Metz Culinary Management, the House’s new dining vendor. 

“I do my hours for the government … and then I took my tie off, my jacket, and I get in the kitchen and help out where I can,” Johnson said. 

Unlike most things on Capitol Hill, Johnson’s gingerbread house wasn’t affected by the government shutdown. His biggest challenges had nothing to do with the lapse in appropriations — instead, the templates and stencils for the gingerbread pieces got lost, he said, and he had to redo them. 

Walking into the kitchen in late November with Johnson and Selick, you’d see their chefs hard at work pulling trays out of the oven, scraping icing remnants from last year off the wood frame or positioning the intricately iced dome on top of the structure. 

The construction started Nov. 20 and wrapped up the next day. After that, the house gets locked away in what Johnson called a “secure” location until the big reveal. While the creation sometimes gets a spot within the Capitol itself, in recent years it has been displayed in the basement rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building.

Kashif Browne, who worked with Johnson and Selick this year, is no stranger to large-scale gingerbread models. In addition to being co-owner of the Fieldstone at Cool Springs in West Virginia, he’s a former White House sous chef. 

“It’s very similar to what we’ve done at the White House, and over here [Johnson] had all of his ducks in a row,” Browne said. 

While the building may look appealing to those with a sweet tooth, Selick said it doesn’t exactly make for a good snack since the recipe is made to withstand sitting out for more than 45 days.

“Everything is edible. Would you enjoy it? No, because the recipe was modified to be a solid structure,” Selick said.

Measuring in at 5 feet long and 3 feet tall from the base of the table, this year’s creation features 20 pounds of butter and 30 pounds of fondant. Planning started at the end of summer, Johnson said. And conversations about the future have already begun to percolate in his kitchen, with next year marking 10 years of the Capitol gingerbread house.

Johnson said he’s hoping to make it even better for 2026. 

The gingerbread replica has a large fan base at the Capitol, and some congressional offices feature it on their holiday cards or social media posts, Johnson said. “Every year I hear, ‘This is better than last year.’ I want to continue to hear that. And it’s a challenge, because how many different ways can you do?” 

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