A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Where Ron Ben-Israel’s Cake-Making Magic Happens
Step inside the master baker’s shiny new kitchen.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller
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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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller2 of 22
A Warm Welcome
This is the area where Ron meets with clients and greeted Darcy and her daughters upon their arrival.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller3 of 22
Bric-a-Brac
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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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller4 of 22
Lots of Color
Pick your palette. These are containers of food coloring neatly arranged by hue.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller5 of 22
Tiny Tools
On this shelf is an assortment of not-your-average rolling pins.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller6 of 22
Taking Shape
The pastry chef keeps a variety of cake molds on hand, including those for creating flower and chandelier shapes.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller7 of 22
Something Blue
Here, Ron showed a container of edible sparkle pigment in sapphire blue.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller8 of 22
Garden of His Own
An entire area of sugar flowers, organized in bins, literally makes the place look like a flower shop!
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller9 of 22
Fine Florals
The group got a close-up look at some sugar flowers on a table where the edible art is created.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller10 of 22
Delicate Details
The man himself showed off a sugar flower.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller11 of 22
Unbe-leaf-able
Another table was filled with freshly sculpted, hand-painted sugar rose leaves. (Can you believe these are made of sugar?)
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller12 of 22
Art Deco Dessert
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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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller13 of 22
A Fine-Tuned Machine
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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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller14 of 22
Layers Upon Layers
An endless supply of stacked cake boards and dowels are handy.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller15 of 22
Tasty Transport
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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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller16 of 22
Tin Types
Round baking pans are sorted by size on the shelves.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller17 of 22
Cool Cake
In the refrigerator, cakes are stored for everything from tastings to weddings.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller18 of 22
Tasting Session
Nothing like cake for lunch! Ron treated Darcy and her daughters to a sampling of his cakes.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller19 of 22
Picture-Perfect
Of course, the slices were almost too beautiful to eat!
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller20 of 22
Sharing the Love
Darcy’s youngest, Pippa, gave Ron a bite of cake, too.
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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller21 of 22
Sweet Memories
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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Photography: Courtesy of Darcy Miller22 of 22
Fantastic Friendship
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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A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Where Ron Ben-Israel’s Cake-Making Magic Happens
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