Little Ron Ben Israel loved the delicious Matzah balls that his great aunt Tzipporah ‘Feigush’ used to prepare. They tasted great and had just the right fluff and texture, but she kept her recipe a secret. Determined little Ron watched her carefully in the kitchen, and saw how she separated the egg whites and whipped them into a meringue, the basic technique of good pastry. Ron’s discovery started his confectionery adventure that would turn into his profession and earn him world wide fame.

As a penniless holocaust survivor, Ron had no money to pay the costly tuitions at the advanced culinary schools, but he was not ready to still his quest for excellence in baking and pastry. Rather than being spoon fed in educational institutions, he started out in the restaurant business as a lowly dishwasher and worked his way from the bottom up, learning from experienced mentors along the way. His culinary studies and cuisine experience in Toronto, Canada and Lyon, France eventually led him to establish his own specialty cake business in New York City.

Ron Ben-Israel’s exquisite cakes were discovered by the fashionable elite when they were showcased in Mikimoto’s window on Fifth Avenue. Commissions followed for store displays at Villeroy & Boch, Baccarat, DeBeer’s, Bloomingdales, and Bergdorf-Goodman; and in bridal salons such as Vera Wang, Yumi Katzura, and Michelle Roth.

Ron’s upscale quality productions are truly fit for a king. While the infamous Marie Antoinette had private chefs in the Palace who catered to her exclusive royal whims and tastes, Ron’s masterpieces are accessible to one and all, as long as they can pay the price, which can be quite expensive.

To create his unique masterpieces, Ron works with a crew of ten pastry chefs, all of them being accomplished culinary experts. Ron’s cakes are available by appointment only, and are usually booked a year in advance. While the actual cake is baked freshly the day before, the flower decorations can take up to three months.

Depending on the specific cake size and style, the cost comes out to be $12- $14 per serving. The total cost per cake ranges from $3,000 to a whopping $25,000 to serve 1,000 people at a wedding.

Ron Ben Israel cakes are specially delivered in cold vans by his crew up and down the East Coast. Beyond the tri-state area, his cakes have been flown to domestic and international locations including Israel, Sri Lanka, the Island of Jamaica and Brazil.

Ron’s sophisticated pastry studio and all its ingredients and food colorings are certified Kosher by a highly reliable supervising agency, the OK laboratories. While Ron also produces dairy cakes, the OK supervisor comes in for non-dairy requests for Kosher weddings that are generally ‘fleishig’ meat affairs, requiring that the cake be certified pareve.

OK takes the Cake!

“Originally we had been using a different Kosher supervising agency, but once we signed up with the OK, I am pleased to say that our business grew by 200%, and I’m not exaggerating!” says Ron. He maintains that the OK rabbinical supervisors have the right attitude: “They are very, very scrupulous; if only the health department would be as careful as the OK. Besides, they also have a very upbeat spirit about them. Even my non-Jewish associates keep asking when is the rabbi coming back?”

The OK rabbis are special: they know their Jewish laws, and are also people of the world.” Ron utilizes the time it takes for the cake to rise in the oven to learn a portion of Torah and commentary with the supervising mashgiach.

Located in New York City’s fashionable SoHo district Ron Ben-Israel Cakes features a commercial bakery, showroom, and design studio. His clients include some of New York’s premier hotels:
The St. Regis, The Pierre, The New York Palace, The Waldorf-Astoria, The Mark, and The Plaza.

Last Purim, Ron created the world’s largest Hamantash that measured 40 inches on each side of the triangle. The giant Hamantash required five people to lift and deliver it, and it served 300 people at a Chabad communal celebration in downtown Manhattan. It was distributed free, the only stipulation being that everyone who enjoyed a bite had to be dressed in costume. This Chanukah, Ron will be going for another record as he designs the world’s largest pastry Draydel.

Each of Ron’s creations is custom made, individualized to the customer’s specifications. His creative productions include designer shoeboxes, and fancy gift bags. He replicated a full array of luxurious brilliant diamonds, gems and precious stones in confectionary sugar for a Turkish Jewelry designer display. However, Ron has his principles and values, and may decline a proposal if it isn’t in good moral taste.

Ron’s cakes have been praised by the food editors of The New York Times, New York Magazine, Town and Country, People, Daily News, Martha Stewart Living, In Style, Victoria, Modern Bride, Bridal Guide, Elegant Bride, For The Bride, Chicago Bride, Manhattan Bride, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, The Knot, and TimeOut.

Books featuring his cakes include Vera Wang on Weddings, Kate Manchester’s The Perfect Wedding Cake, Bette Matthews’ For Your Wedding – Cakes, and Joan Hamburg’s City Weddings. Zagat Survey’s have published glowing reviews on Ron’s cakes for the past four years.

Ron’s personae and operation were thinly disguised as a feature character in the New York Times’ bestseller novel “Shopaholic Ties The Knot” by Sophie Kinsella.

Ron’s Television credits include:
The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC News, Fox News, ABC “Good Morning America”, NBC “The Today Show”, WB “The Morning Show”, CBS “Eye To Eye”, CNBC “How To Succeed In Business”, HBO Oxygen TV, MTV “TRL”, Japan’s SheTV , ABC’s “The View”, and The “Late Show with David Letterman”. He is a favorite guest of “Martha Stewart Living.” Movie credits include: Paramount's “In And Out,” Woody Allen’s “Celebrity,” and recently “Brooklyn” – acting role (in production).

Ron’s confectionery achievements were awarded prestigious gold medals, notably from the New York Guild of Chefs, The Societe de S. Michelle, and the Societe Culinaire Philantropic.

Ron has served as a guest lecturer at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, and is currently an adjunct professor at the French Culinary Institute in New York. He also serves on FCI’s advisory board and regularly judges the pastry class’ graduation. Upon graduation, students of these culinary institutions frequently spend three to five months at his facilities further developing and refining their skills.

His charitable endeavors have included “Seeds Of Peace”, “The Hatter’s Ball”, “Children’s Museum of the Arts,” “Boston University - School Of Hospitality, ” “City Of Hope”, and, on a regular basis, “City Harvest” (Maitre Rottisseur of the New York City Baillage of the Chaines de Rottiseurs.