20 Years of Gorgeous Wedding Cakes by Pastry Chef Ron Ben-Israel

Sang An

When his business started, most couples would choose between option A, B, or C for their big day. A lot has changed since then.

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Sang An

When Ron Ben-Israel baked his first wedding cake for us in 1995, he never imagined just how far these sugary works of art would go. “I’d just started my business when there was a cosmic intervention,” he says. “Martha Stewart called after she saw one of my window displays.” Here, the NYC pastry chef shares some of his best confections that have appeared in Martha Stewart Weddings over the last two decades and tells the stories behind their creation.

Pictured: Martha Stewart and Ron Ben-Israel in the Fall 2003 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

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Dream Team

VICTOR SCHRAGER

“Martha asked me to contribute to the first issue of Martha Stewart Weddings. When we met, she had a Carolina Herrera gown in her office and showed me pictures of herself as a bride, holding daisies, so I made a cake inspired by that dress and the daisy bouquet—it was such a happy statement!”

Pictured: Cake from the Winter/Spring 1995 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

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A Vision in White

Don Ashby

“We were both ready for something new in wedding cakes. At the time, they were sort of standard. Most had peach and pink tiers, and you’d choose option A, B, or C and maybe put a bride and groom on top.”

Pictured: Cake from the Fall 2002 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

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In Bloom

Sang An

“Over the years, we began working with sugar flowers and experimenting with silicone molds and exotic flavor pairings.”

Pictured: Cake from the Spring 2003 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

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Signature Detail

Sang An

“It’s so interesting—I talk to bridal designers, and they, too, have timeless designs. Every season you have to show new things, and of course it’s very exciting, but out of the new things, sometimes designs become eternal. People go back to them again and again. It happens with dresses, it happens with flowers, and it happens with cakes. And those cakes with sugar flowers...the colors and the surface might change, but it is timeless. It’s wonderful.”

Pictured: Cake from the Fall 2003 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

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Haute Confection

Sang An

“As a wider audience became aware of these elements, couples started getting more creative, bringing swatches of lace to tastings.”

Pictured: Cake from the Fall 2003 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

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A Tasteful Experience

Dana Gallagher

“It’s awful to say, but it’s just the reality: People used to assume that wedding cakes were going to be dry and not very delicious. Now, I experiment with different flavors and couples are finding it’s all going to be very good.”

Pictured: Dessert buffet from the Winter 2004 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

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No Cake Walk

Mikkel Vang

“The nice thing about working with the editors at Martha is...I would be challenged!”

Pictured: Cake from the Winter 2005 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

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Breaking the Mold

Anna Williams

“On the matelassé cake, we actually started playing with silicone. Silicone molds are available for the sugar industry—you know, the pastry-chef industry, but not so much for cake decorating—so I started playing with it because we needed to get it for the magazine.”

Pictured: Cake from the Spring 2005 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

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A Stitch in Time

Anna Williams

“Then the other cake—the crewelwork—we had to figure out a way to use tiny little surgical scissors and those kinds of really disgusting dental tools and long-nosed tweezers to do this crewel embroidery effect.”

Pictured: Cake from the Spring 2005 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

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Fashion Forward

Johnny Miller

“I kept developing, and the industry kept developing. I started visiting the bridal ateliers—Vera Wang and Reem Acra—and seeing what was going on behind the scenes. I saw a huge difference. People were much more receptive to the ideas.”