diff --git a/packages/blaze/builtins.js b/packages/blaze/builtins.js
index 17cf066f30..880304e0d0 100644
--- a/packages/blaze/builtins.js
+++ b/packages/blaze/builtins.js
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ Blaze.Each = function (argFunc, contentFunc, elseFunc) {
               eachView.inElseMode = false;
             }
 
-            var range = Blaze.render(newItemView, eachView);
+            var range = Blaze.render(newItemView, eachView).domrange;
             eachView.domrange.addMember(range, index);
           } else {
             eachView.initialSubviews.splice(index, 0, newItemView);
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ Blaze.Each = function (argFunc, contentFunc, elseFunc) {
               eachView.domrange.addMember(
                 Blaze.render(
                   Blaze.View('each_else',eachView.elseFunc),
-                  eachView), 0);
+                  eachView).domrange, 0);
             }
           } else {
             eachView.initialSubviews.splice(index, 1);
diff --git a/packages/blaze/view.js b/packages/blaze/view.js
index 51a346f10d..90ba7dc70d 100644
--- a/packages/blaze/view.js
+++ b/packages/blaze/view.js
@@ -390,7 +390,9 @@ Blaze.render = function (content, parentView) {
       throw new Error("Expected a function, template, or View in Blaze.render");
     view = content;
   }
-  return Blaze._materializeView(view, parentView);
+  Blaze._materializeView(view, parentView);
+
+  return view;
 };
 
 Blaze.toHTML = function (htmljs, parentView) {
diff --git a/packages/less/less_tests.js b/packages/less/less_tests.js
index 29464c8e6e..6a677f19b4 100644
--- a/packages/less/less_tests.js
+++ b/packages/less/less_tests.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 Tinytest.add("less - presence", function(test) {
 
   var div = document.createElement('div');
-  Blaze.render(Template.less_test_presence).attach(div);
+  UI.insert(UI.render(Template.less_test_presence), div);
   div.style.display = 'block';
   document.body.appendChild(div);
 
diff --git a/packages/stylus/stylus_tests.js b/packages/stylus/stylus_tests.js
index e447e121bd..72e350f613 100644
--- a/packages/stylus/stylus_tests.js
+++ b/packages/stylus/stylus_tests.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 Tinytest.add("stylus - presence", function(test) {
 
   var div = document.createElement('div');
-  Blaze.render(Template.stylus_test_presence).attach(div);
+  UI.insert(UI.render(Template.stylus_test_presence), div);
   div.style.display = 'block';
   document.body.appendChild(div);
 
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ Tinytest.add("stylus - presence", function(test) {
 
 Tinytest.add("stylus - @import", function(test) {
   var div = document.createElement('div');
-  Blaze.render(Template.stylus_test_import).attach(div);
+  UI.insert(UI.render(Template.stylus_test_import), div);
   div.style.display = 'block';
   document.body.appendChild(div);
 
diff --git a/packages/templating/templating.js b/packages/templating/templating.js
index 5ff147af30..e9061059ba 100644
--- a/packages/templating/templating.js
+++ b/packages/templating/templating.js
@@ -49,19 +49,12 @@ Template._body_.renderToDocument = function () {
   if (Template._body_.view)
     return;
 
-  var range = UI.render(Template._body_);
-  Template._body_.view = range.view;
-  UI.insert(range, document.body);
+  var view = UI.render(Template._body_);
+  Template._body_.view = view;
+  UI.insert(view, document.body);
 };
 
-// Renders a template (eg `Template.foo`), returning a DOMRange. The
-// range will keep updating reactively.
-UI.render = function (tmpl) {
-  if (! (tmpl instanceof Template))
-    throw new Error("Template required here");
-
-  return Blaze.render(tmpl);
-};
+UI.render = Blaze.render;
 
 // Same as `UI.render` with a data context passed in.
 UI.renderWithData = function (tmpl, data) {
@@ -70,16 +63,16 @@ UI.renderWithData = function (tmpl, data) {
   if (typeof data === 'function')
     throw new Error("Data argument can't be a function"); // XXX or can it?
 
-  return Blaze.render(Blaze.With(data, function () {
+  return UI.render(Blaze.With(data, function () {
     return tmpl;
   }));
 };
 
-// The publicly documented API for inserting a DOMRange returned from
+// The publicly documented API for inserting a View returned from
 // `UI.render` or `UI.renderWithData` into the DOM. If you then remove
 // `parentElement` using jQuery, all reactive updates on the rendered
 // template will stop.
-UI.insert = function (range, parentElement, nextNode) {
+UI.insert = function (view, parentElement, nextNode) {
   // parentElement must be a DOM node. in particular, can't be the
   // result of a call to `$`. Can't check if `parentElement instanceof
   // Node` since 'Node' is undefined in IE8.
@@ -87,17 +80,18 @@ UI.insert = function (range, parentElement, nextNode) {
     throw new Error("'parentElement' must be a DOM node");
   if (nextNode && typeof nextNode.nodeType !== 'number') // 'nextNode' is optional
     throw new Error("'nextNode' must be a DOM node");
-  if (! range instanceof Blaze._DOMRange)
+  if (! (view && (view.domrange instanceof Blaze._DOMRange)))
     throw new Error("Expected template rendered with UI.render");
 
-  range.attach(parentElement, nextNode);
+  view.domrange.attach(parentElement, nextNode);
 };
 
 // XXX test and document
-UI.remove = function (range) {
-  if (! range instanceof Blaze._DOMRange)
+UI.remove = function (view) {
+  if (! (view && (view.domrange instanceof Blaze._DOMRange)))
     throw new Error("Expected template rendered with UI.render");
 
+  var range = view.domrange;
   if (range.attached)
     range.detach();
   range.destroy();
diff --git a/packages/test-helpers/render_div.js b/packages/test-helpers/render_div.js
index 2976d5c18c..1cd805013c 100644
--- a/packages/test-helpers/render_div.js
+++ b/packages/test-helpers/render_div.js
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 renderToDiv = function (template, optData) {
   var div = document.createElement("DIV");
   if (optData == null) {
-    Blaze.render(template).attach(div);
+    UI.insert(UI.render(template), div);
   } else {
-    Blaze.render(function () {
+    UI.insert(UI.render(function () {
       return Blaze.With(optData, function () {
         return template;
       });
-    }).attach(div);
+    }), div);
   }
   return div;
 };
diff --git a/packages/ui/render_tests.js b/packages/ui/render_tests.js
index 503a0fd0d0..55286037d7 100644
--- a/packages/ui/render_tests.js
+++ b/packages/ui/render_tests.js
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ var materialize = function (content, parent) {
       return content;
     };
   }
-  Blaze.render(func).attach(parent);
+  UI.insert(UI.render(func), parent);
 };
 
 var toHTML = Blaze.toHTML;
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ Tinytest.add("ui - render - reactive attributes", function (test) {
     test.equal(R.numListeners(), 0);
 
     var div = document.createElement("DIV");
-    Blaze.render(spanFunc).attach(div);
+    UI.insert(UI.render(spanFunc), div);
     test.equal(canonicalizeHtml(div.innerHTML), '<span class="david gre\u00ebnspan" id="foo"></span>');
 
     test.equal(R.numListeners(), 1);
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ Tinytest.add("ui - render - reactive attributes", function (test) {
     test.equal(R.numListeners(), 0);
 
     var div = document.createElement("DIV");
-    Blaze.render(spanFunc).attach(div);
+    UI.insert(UI.render(spanFunc), div);
     test.equal(canonicalizeHtml(div.innerHTML), '<span id="foo" style="foo: &quot;a;aa&quot;; bar: b"></span>');
 
     test.equal(R.numListeners(), 1);
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ Tinytest.add("ui - render - reactive attributes", function (test) {
 
     var div = document.createElement("DIV");
     document.body.appendChild(div);
-    Blaze.render(spanFunc).attach(div);
+    UI.insert(UI.render(spanFunc), div);
     test.equal(canonicalizeHtml(div.innerHTML), '<span style="foo: a"></span>');
 
     var span = div.firstChild;
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ Tinytest.add("ui - render - reactive attributes", function (test) {
                'HTML.SPAN({id: "foo", ggg: ["x", ["y", ["z"]]]})');
 
     var div = document.createElement("DIV");
-    Blaze.render(spanFunc).attach(div);
+    UI.insert(UI.render(spanFunc), div);
     var span = div.firstChild;
     test.equal(span.nodeName, 'SPAN');
 
@@ -514,7 +514,7 @@ Tinytest.add("ui - render - views", function (test) {
 
     var div = document.createElement("DIV");
 
-    Blaze.render(makeView).attach(div);
+    UI.insert(UI.render(makeView), div);
     buf.push('---flush---');
     Deps.flush();
     test.equal(buf, ['created 1',
@@ -571,7 +571,7 @@ Tinytest.add("ui - render - findAll", function (test) {
 
   var div = document.createElement("DIV");
 
-  Blaze.render(myTemplate).attach(div);
+  UI.insert(UI.render(myTemplate), div);
   Deps.flush();
 
   test.equal(_.isArray(found), true);
@@ -591,7 +591,7 @@ Tinytest.add("ui - render - reactive attributes 2", function (test) {
   };
 
   var div = document.createElement("DIV");
-  Blaze.render(spanFunc).attach(div);
+  UI.insert(UI.render(spanFunc), div);
   var check = function (expected) {
     test.equal(Blaze.toHTML(spanFunc()), expected);
     test.equal(canonicalizeHtml(div.innerHTML), expected);