Scents of cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and baked apples escape from the oven, filling the kitchen with the warm aroma that is reminiscent of grandma's baking come holiday time.
Becca Goldring is testing a recipe for a classic apple pie, the most recent baked good featured on her blog, becca-bakes.com, where she chronicles her scrumptious endeavors in the world of food.
Unlike grandma, Goldring spends her time out of the kitchen as a member of UF's track and field team.
"When I was in middle school, I wanted to try out for the track team, and they forced you to try out for more than one event," Goldring said. "I thought I might as well try to do the high jump, and I ended up being randomly good at it."
Like with the high jump, Goldring stumbled into her baking company, Becca Bakes.
"I was just baking for fun, and I made a blog to keep track of all of my recipes," she said. "It progressed to a better site, and then I started selling, and now it has turned into a company."
Goldring produces all of her recipes herself, an art form she learned while interning at Yum Cupcakery, which has since moved to a downtown location and changed its name to Sarkara Sweets.
"I learned a lot about the science of ingredients and how ratios can affect the recipe," Goldring said. "Plus, I got paid in cupcakes. It was delicious."
Goldring's tasty edibles are available for purchase by request on her website.
The track team has even worked out a sweet deal with the sociology junior.
"Whenever the track team wins a championship, they get a cake," Goldring said. "I made a vanilla cake once, but I dyed the top layer orange and the bottom layer blue, so it was really festive when they cut it."
Birthdays are another celebratory occasion for Goldring because they provide an opportunity to test new recipes on her favorite guinea pigs - her friends.
"When I first started baking, I would use a birthday as a reason to try a new recipe," she said. "Actually, I still do that."
Lexi Muniz, Goldring's friend and teammate, is happy to eat any Becca Bakes treat.
"There are people on the team who will be talking about her cake before we even head back to Gainesville after a championship," Muniz said. "Everyone on the team enjoys hearing about her baking, and we are always willing to taste test."
As part of the track team, it is crucial that Goldring and her teammates have to stay in shape.
"For track, I can't be constantly eating baked goods, so my trick is to just give them away," Goldring said.
Muniz said that even though she's always baking, come training season, Goldring knows when to offer and when not to offer her teammates treats.
"As athletes we are pretty much always hungry, whether that's a good or bad thing," Muniz said. "Even if we're training, a treat from Becca's kitchen always hits the spot."
Some of Goldring's favorite recipes include pumpkin whoopie pies, hazelnut blondies, margarita sugar cookies and her never-fail devil's food cake.
"I try not to repeat recipes, but some things are just classics," Goldring said. "They're so good I just have to make them a second time."
Creating recipes is relaxing for the 21-year-old who uses baking as a form of expression.
"When I'm creating a recipe, I have several different websites open and take elements from each," she said. "It's kind of like a Frankenstein."
Becca Bakes turned into a legitimate company after UF Hillel's program director attended one of her local markets and offered the track star a place to bake.
"I told him that if I ever wanted to do this legitimately I would have to bake in a certified kitchen," Goldring said. "He said if you make it kosher you can bake at Hillel, so I did."
Jeff Kaplan, program director at UF Hillel, loves having Goldring bake at Hillel.
"We are the Jewish Student Center, and as such, we need to be a resource for our students," Kaplan said. "Some students find this through coming to Jewish learning classes, others do this by doing social justice and community service work with us. Becca does it by baking in our kitchen."
Kaplan is a big fan of Goldring's baking, attending the markets and citing her "inception cookie," an Oreo cookie within a chocolate chip cookie, as his favorite sweet treat.
"She's multifaceted, multitalented and overall super cool," he said. "She is extremely passionate about the quality of her products and truly wants everyone to enjoy them."
Goldring has sold out at every market she's participated in. Her "Pumpkin-Palooza" event, which included baked goods solely with pumpkin flavors, sold out in less than an hour, she said.
"Meeting your customers face to face and having that kind of connection is great," Goldring said. "I like them saying ‘I can't wait to eat this,' or ‘This is really cool,' like the pumpkin pie on a stick that I had at my Pumpkin-Palooza."
Aside from track and baking, Goldring goes to school full time, writes a blog and works part time as a scooper at The Gelato Company.
"I'm just really good at time management," Goldring said. "It's all about flexibility and making it work and having realistic expectations on how long things take."
And she's starting to get recognition for her hard work.
"A couple girls came into Hillel and asked for Becca Bakes," Goldring said. "People in the farmers market circuit know who I am now, and I just kind of have made a name for myself among this little town, and I hope to grow with it."
Becca Goldring also writes a blog for the Alligator, Chomp and Chew.
Becca Goldring, 21-year-old UF student athlete on the Gators track and field team, holds up a peanut butter pie, a Becca Bakes treat she made for a friend's birthday.
