16 Facts About Ron Ben-Israel

Ron Ben-Israel is an Israeli-American pastry chef.

Ron Ben-Israel is the executive chef and owner of Ron Ben-Israel Cakes in New York City.

Ron Ben-Israel is known for his wedding and special occasion cakes as well as for his detail in sugar paste flowers.

Ron Ben-Israel's mother was born in Vienna and was rescued from the ghetto by American volunteers, later immigrating to Israel.

Ron Ben-Israel's father worked in the printing industry, while his mother worked in map-making for the government.

Ron Ben-Israel loved baking in the kitchen as a child.

Ron Ben-Israel attended the Thelma Yellin High School for the Arts, specializing in dance.

Ron Ben-Israel started a dance career at age 21, right after discharging from the army.

Ron Ben-Israel danced with the Israeli dance companies Batsheva and Bat-Dor over a period of some 15 years, and toured internationally.

In 1993, while living in New York City, Ron Ben-Israel retired from dancing, in part due to having developed arthritis.

Ron Ben-Israel started a new career in cooking, doing temporary jobs making cakes and designing shop windows.

Ron Ben-Israel was discovered and mentored by Betty Van Nostrand and Martha Stewart who saw one of his cakes in a window.

Ron Ben-Israel was disappointed by the American approach to baking and set to create more elegant and delicate cakes, digging into his Israeli background where the pastry culture was more international.

Ron Ben-Israel designed a cake for the very first issue of Martha Stewart Living Weddings.

From 2011 to 2013, Ron Ben-Israel was the host and judge of the Food Network competition show Sweet Genius.

Ron Ben-Israel has appeared as a guest judge on Season 3 of Netflix's Sugar Rush and on Food Network's The Big Bake.