Chef David Diffendorfer puts the finishing touches on the gingerbread display at the Benson Hotel in Portland, Ore., on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. This year marks the 54th year of the annual display at the hotel.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
In the lobby of The Benson Hotel in downtown Portland, carefully crafted icing trees and shimmering towers take shape. Based on the film classic “The Wizard of Oz” with a nod to the recently released blockbuster “Wicked,” this Emerald City is made entirely of gingerbread cookies.
But the wizard behind the curtain of this story is David Diffendorfer, the chef who has been creating The Benson’s gingerbread house for decades.
“If you ever told me 40 years ago that I’d be doing a gingerbread display for 32 years, I’d say ‘you’re crazy’ but here I am, I’m still doing it,” Diffendorfer said.
Just one day before its completion, the chef is busy at work, diving in and out of a curtained-off area in the hotel lobby — the hotel staff’s attempt at keeping the theme a secret from the public, which was unveiled on Dec. 2.
Diffendorfer, who was previously the hotel’s pastry chef, took over the gingerbread operation after the previous chef in charge of the display left.
Despite leaving the hotel in 2001 to teach baking and pastry classes and later becoming a home inspector, Diffendorfer returns each year to make the gingerbread house come to life.
Diffendorfer pulls a sheet of baked gingerbread off the rack in his workshop at the hotel. Diffendorfer begins working on the display in September and spends 250 to 300 hours on the creation.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Over 54 years, the installation has expanded in size. Original gingerbread houses fit on a sheet tray. Now, the display takes up a 4-by-8-foot piece of plywood.
“The hotel, maybe 15 years ago, told me I couldn’t make it any bigger because it would just take up too much room in the lobby,” Diffendorfer said.
As early as September, the chef is given access to the hotel’s professional kitchen where he pumps out sheets of hardy gingerbread. Diffendorfer sets up shop in one of the hotel’s vacant conference rooms, which becomes a laboratory of gingerbread, icing and edible glitter. By the time the sculpture is unveiled he will have spent 250 to 300 hours on the project.
Diffendorfer said he thinks about the design and concept all year and always looks forward to being back in the professional kitchen.
“I literally have met kids who now bring their kids,” he said. “This still keeps me in it … I miss it and I don’t, but this, this is enough every year.”
Diffendorfer adds wreath and Christmas lights to the edges of the gingerbread display, hidden behind a curtain in the lobby. Diffendorfer no longer works at the hotel full-time, but returns each holiday season to build the display.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
