| Ron Ben-Israel | |
|---|---|
| Sweet Genius character |
Ron Ben-Israel is the executive chef and owner of Ron Ben-Israel Cakes in New York City. He is known for his wedding and special occasion cakes and for his detail in sugar paste flowers.
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His confectionery pieces have been featured at the openings of the Mandarin Oriental, New York and The Ritz-Carlton and are a highlight of elaborate events at other premier New York hotels such as the St. Regis, the Pierre, and the New York Palace.
Modern Bride, Town & Country, Martha Stewart Weddings, In Style, The New York Times, and Vogue have commissioned trendsetting cake designs. His most recent television appearances include Martha Stewart, the Bravo Network, the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Food Network, and the David Letterman Show.[1] He now hosts a Food Network show called Sweet Genius.[2]
Ben-Israel is a Visiting Master Pastry-Instructor at the French Culinary Institute in New York City. He teaches each Classic Pastry Arts’ class and each Cake Techniques & Design class his approach to sugar paste. [1]
Ben-Israel was born in Israel in 1957, but has been in Manhattan since his 30s. In 1996 he fell in love with baking.[3]
Ben-Israel served as a Israel Defense Forces soldier and as a successful professional dancer in modern dance. As a dancer in Israel he joined a dance company produced by the Rothschilds. Ron toured extensively with the dance company. In 1993 he retired from dancing to start a new career in cooking. Ron on this mom and dad said: "My mother was born in Vienna and was rescued from the ghetto by American volunteers … [and later] put on a boat to Israel. My father lost most of his family in the Holocaust. As a teenager he was in Auschwitz, and was released by American soldiers. They fell in love in Israel. They were both artists, and I was the first born."
Ben-Israel his early life said: "I was always involved with it because as a child I always baked with my mom and was interested in the magic of it. The action of baking was just fascinating and I had always felt comfortable in the kitchen. I had to retire at 36 from dancing and needed a new career. I had also gone to art school before that. I was doing many jobs: styling, dressing models in Bryant Park, photographing, catering, baking, and everything. It fell into place."
Ben-Israel on becoming a Sweet Genius said: "I had to eventually retire from dancing, and I wanted to stay in America [where he had moved]. So I started doing temporary jobs. I always was comfortable in kitchen. People began asking me to make cakes for them. I was also designing some shop windows. One day, Martha Stewart[5] walked by the window at Mikimoto on Fifth Avenue and saw the cakes I had done. She called me because she was starting a wedding magazine. She invited me over to her famous house for breakfast. I saw the hydrangeas she had there, and said I could do hydrangeas in sugar. And that was it."[6] Ron give credit to his Israeli military training for his success, saying it gave him discipline and yet precision in his "fantastical works". [3]
Ben-Israel is active member of City Harvest's Food Council a New York food rescue organization. City Harvest safely retrieving edible food that would otherwise go to waste and distributing it to those in need.[7] [8]