Ron Ben-Israel
Ron Ben-Israel
Ron Ben-Israel is an Israeli pastry chef. He 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. From 2011 - 2013, he also hosted the cooking competition TV show Sweet Genius, and he is currently a judge on Food Network's Cake Wars...
NationalityIsraeli
ProfessionChef
Date of Birth30 June 1957
CountryIsrael
became culinary design french institute known legitimate referred york
We used to be referred to as bakers and then we became known as cake decorators and now we are known as cake designers. I teach at the French Culinary Institute in New York and cake design is a legitimate profession.
cakes designers develop experiment fashion florist ideas lace next sketches sugar top twelve type using various work
I have a showroom where we experiment with twelve cakes. We develop sketches and ideas for cakes for the next season. We work with the top fashion designers to see what type of lace they are using or work with the top florist for us to be able to make various sugar roses or flowers.
amazing chefs few herbs pastry spices stuff using vanilla
In the past few years, we've been doing amazing stuff with desserts. Pastry chefs have been using herbs and spices in their desserts. So vanilla cake doesn't have to be just vanilla, it can have a little thyme. Or you could have a custard with a little lavender in it, which is just amazing.
cake special mitzvah
When I celebrated my bar mitzvah, there was no cake. Today, there is no such thing as a bar mitzvah in the United States without a special cake. It can be even more complicated and expensive than a wedding cake, because bar-mitzvah cakes are often based on a particular theme.
birthday cake albums
I did a cake for the 60th birthday of Elton John, for Britney Spears' 27th birthday and for the 'Circus' album she put out - the cake had circus themes. I prepared a cake for a surprise 82nd birthday event for the architect Frank Gehry; the cake was comprised of mini-replicas of his buildings.
jobs dancing quitting
After I quit dancing, I tried a lot of jobs. But I could always bake.
real creating stones
For months I've been working on creating techniques to reproduce Swarovski crystals in sugar using the real stones to guide me.
cake taste reason-why
I have a crusade against fondant, also shortening. There's no reason why wedding cakes can't taste good if you know what you're doing.
crazy nuts cake
I like crazy, childlike, candy bar-filled cakes with gooey caramel, chocolate-covered nuts, marshmallows, and the like.
inspiration thinking people
Regrettably, people today don't watch many programs that actually teach people how to cook, so I agreed to do a competitive show that I think will provide inspiration.
eggs cooking secret
Pastry is different from cooking because you have to consider the chemistry, beauty and flavor. It's not just sugar and eggs thrown together. I tell my pastry chefs to be in tune for all of this. You have to be challenged by using secret or unusual ingredients.
art cake discipline
Repetitiveness and discipline are the secrets of cake decorating. The art comes from the meticulous technique, the way it does for a dancer.