A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Where Ron Ben-Israel’s Cake-Making Magic Happens

Courtesy of Darcy Miller
Step inside the master baker’s shiny new kitchen.
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Courtesy of Darcy Miller
See 20 Years of Gorgeous Wedding Cakes by Pastry Chef Ron Ben-Israel

We’ve been working with the NYC pastry chef for 20 years, featuring his showstopping confections—but don’t you wonder how these cakes actually get made? Recently, Ron moved into a new space in midtown Manhattan and invited Martha Stewart Weddings’ Darcy Miller and her daughters to visit. (Oh, the perks of being on spring break when your mom is Editorial Director of MSW!) Here, an inside look at the artist’s workshop.

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A Warm Welcome

Courtesy of Darcy Miller

This is the area where Ron meets with clients and greeted Darcy and her daughters upon their arrival.

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Bric-a-Brac

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The new workshop has amazing supply closets, this one filled with food coloring, ribbon, and floral tape. He is so organized!

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Lots of Color

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Pick your palette. These are containers of food coloring neatly arranged by hue.

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Tiny Tools

Courtesy of Darcy Miller

On this shelf is an assortment of not-your-average rolling pins.

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Taking Shape

Courtesy of Darcy Miller

The pastry chef keeps a variety of cake molds on hand, including those for creating flower and chandelier shapes.

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Something Blue

Courtesy of Darcy Miller

Here, Ron showed a container of edible sparkle pigment in sapphire blue.

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Garden of His Own

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An entire area of sugar flowers, organized in bins, literally makes the place look like a flower shop!

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Fine Florals

Courtesy of Darcy Miller

The group got a close-up look at some sugar flowers on a table where the edible art is created.

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Delicate Details

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The man himself showed off a sugar flower.

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Unbe-leaf-able

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Another table was filled with freshly sculpted, hand-painted sugar rose leaves. (Can you believe these are made of sugar?)

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Art Deco Dessert

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Here, a member of Ron’s talented staff was creating a geometric cake pattern using no cutters, no stencils, and no templates.

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A Fine-Tuned Machine

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In the spotless kitchen, housing the tools, ovens, and walk-in fridge, hang the current orders and a very detailed schedule of employees’ daily duties.

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Layers Upon Layers

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An endless supply of stacked cake boards and dowels are handy.

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Tasty Transport

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Darcy and her girls learned why a three-layer cake doesn’t collapse and then saw the huge boxes that package these creations.

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Tin Types

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Round baking pans are sorted by size on the shelves.

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Cool Cake

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In the refrigerator, cakes are stored for everything from tastings to weddings.

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Tasting Session

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Nothing like cake for lunch! Ron treated Darcy and her daughters to a sampling of his cakes.

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Picture-Perfect

Courtesy of Darcy Miller
See 20 Cake Makers to Follow on Instagram

Of course, the slices were almost too beautiful to eat!

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Sharing the Love

Courtesy of Darcy Miller

Darcy’s youngest, Pippa, gave Ron a bite of cake, too.

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Sweet Memories

Courtesy of Darcy Miller
See Handkerchief-Inspired Wedding Cakes by Ron Ben-Israel

Ron showed off one of the handkerchief cakes he created for a Martha Stewart Weddings story, a favorite of Darcy’s.

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Fantastic Friendship

Courtesy of Darcy Miller

The best part of the day for Darcy was, of course, being with Ron. “He is as incredible as his cakes taste and look,” she says. “He’s funny, warm, and you usually get a little dance move—did you know he was a ballet dancer in his former life?” 

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