Ron Ben-Israel | |
|---|---|
רון בן-ישראל | |
| Born | 1957 (age 67–68) |
| Occupation(s) | Pastry chef, Host ofSweet Genius, Judge onCake Wars |
Ron Ben-Israel (Hebrew:רון בן-ישראל; born 1957) is an Israeli-Americanpastry chef. He is the executive chef and owner of Ron Ben-Israel Cakes inNew York City. He is known for his wedding and special occasion cakes as well as for his detail in sugar paste flowers. From 2011 to 2013, he hosted the cooking competition TV showSweet Genius. Ben-Israel has also been a judge on a variety ofFood Network shows, includingCake Wars,Chopped,Guy's Grocery Games andWorst Cooks in America.[1]
Ron Ben-Israel was born inIsrael. His mother was born inVienna and was rescued from theghetto by American volunteers, laterimmigrating to Israel.[citation needed] His father, Moshe, lost most of his family inthe Holocaust, and survivedAuschwitz. His father worked in the printing industry, while his mother worked inmap-making for the government.[2]
Ben-Israel grew up inTel Aviv. He loved baking in the kitchen as a child. He attended theThelma Yellin High School for the Arts, specializing in dance.[2]
Ben-Israel started a dance career at age 21, right after discharging from thearmy. He specialized inmodern dance. He danced with the Israeli dance companiesBatsheva andBat-Dor[2] over a period of some 15 years, and toured internationally. Near the end of his dancing career, he moved to theUnited States.[1]
In 1993, while living inNew York City, Ben-Israel retired from dancing, in part due to having developedarthritis.[2] He started a new career in cooking, doing temporary jobs making cakes and designing shop windows.[3] In 1996, he fell in love with baking. He was discovered and mentored by Betty Van Nostrand[3] andMartha Stewart who saw one of his cakes in a window.[4] He was disappointed by the American approach to baking (vegetable shortening, powder sugar, plastic columns, plastic figurines) and set to create more elegant and delicate cakes, digging into his Israeli background where the pastry culture was more international. He designed a cake for the very first issue ofMartha Stewart Living Weddings (1995). He launched Ron Ben-Israel Cakes in 1999. He was tagged “theManolo Blahnik of wedding cakes" in a 2003 issue ofThe New York Times.[5]
His television appearances includeMartha Stewart, theBravo Network,The Oprah Winfrey Show, theFood Network, and theLate Show with David Letterman.[6]
From 2011 to 2013, Ben-Israel was the host and judge of theFood Network competition showSweet Genius.[7]
Ben-Israel appeared as a guest judge on Season 2 of theNetflix Baking-parody showNailed It!. He has also appeared as a guest judge on Season 3 of Netflix'sSugar Rush[8] and on Food Network'sThe Big Bake.[9]
Ron Ben-Israel is married to Hiroyuki Aihara.[10]