The annual cakewalk at the Colfax County Fair in Springer may not be the last bona-fide cakewalk in New Mexico, but where else can you find a white-painted, numbered circle the size of a circus tent in the middle of a downtown city street?

No one can say for certain how long the custom has been in place — Pete Pacheco, this year's master of ceremonies, says "more than 20 years," while some participants over 50 remember doing the cakewalk as children.

Whatever its age, it remains a fair highlight that brings together generations as it brings those residents who have moved to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Angel Fire and beyond home again.

Here's how the cakewalk works: For 25 cents, you buy a ticket and a chance to win one of the three dozen or so big, scrumptious chocolate, coconut, cherry-cheese, German chocolate, spice and yellow cakes baked and beautifully decorated by the wives, sisters, mothers and girlfriends of the Knights of Columbus.

Tex-Mex music provides the beat from a boombox in the middle of the circle as participants parade around the perimeter, stepping on one number at a time. If you are standing on the number that is drawn when the music stops, you win a cake — which is hand-delivered then and there, by the likes of the Colfax and Santa Fe counties' Rodeo and Fair Queens, Emily Meadows and Jessica Stanke, turned out in gleaming satin finery.

Whether you are 6 or 60, this is a triumph you will remember.

Cakewalk through history

The cakewalk itself originated far from this small Northern New Mexico town. According to www.wikipedia.org, the cakewalk was "a traditional African American form of music and dance which originated among slaves in the Southern United States ... originally known as the chalk line walk; it takes its name from competitions slaveholders sometimes held, in which they offered slices of hoecake as prizes for the best dancers."

Though the stylized movements of the "cakewalk" could be quite strenuous, the term now is synonymous with "easy" or "effortless." The phrases "takes the cake" and "piece of cake" come from the same root, wikipedia says.

Although some New Orleans marching bands and the Philadelphia Mummers still step out in that old-time cakewalk strut, the word now more commonly refers to a fund-raising game played at churches, schools and fairs. In this present-day version of the dance, participants buy tickets that allow them walk around a circle of numbered squares in time with music; when the music stops, a number is called out and the person standing on that square wins a donated cake.

Cakes show how much you care

Many people who grew up in small towns throughout New Mexico remember doing the cakewalk, with suitors or would-be boyfriends manufacturing elaborate schemes for winning the cake baked by a special girl.

Pacheco estimates this year's Springer cakewalk put $360 in the Knights of Columbus' treasury to be used for scholarships, Christmas groceries for the needy and other charitable activities. He enjoys keeping the custom going if only to see the smiles on the faces of young kids when they win.

"It's nice to do something for the community," he says.

Christine Bernal — who grew up in Springer, left, then returned home four years ago — is compiling a book of her favorite cake recipes for her children. When they were growing up, she gave her children a choice between her Apple Walnut Cake with Buttermilk Sauce and Red Velvet Cake for their birthdays. A girlfriend gave her the Apple Walnut Cake recipe, and the Red Velvet Cake recipe came from her mother, Esther Montoya.

"When you give this cake to someone, they know you care for them," she says of her Apple Walnut Cake.

RECIPES

CHRISTINE BERNAL'S APPLE-WALNUT CAKE WITH BUTTERMILK SAUCE

3 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups grated unpared apples (Pink Lady, Gala or Fuji)

1 cup sweetened, canned flaked coconut

3 eggs

1/4 cup oil

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup orange juice

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Buttermilk Sauce (recipe below)

Sift flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Combine sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla and orange juice in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer until well-mixed. Stir in flour mixture. Fold in apples, walnuts and coconut. Spoon into well-oiled, heavy Bundt pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 11/2 hours, or until top springs back.

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BUTTERMILK SAUCE

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 to 2 fresh apples

Combine all ingredients in small pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil, approximately 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut apples into wedges. Wedge them into the center of the cake to form a flower. Take a wooden skewer and punch numerous holes in the cake to better absorb the sauce. Pour Buttermilk Sauce over the cake and serve.

To be sure the cake is moist enough, Bernal often adds an optional tablespoon or two of sweet apple sauce to the batter.

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CHRISTINE BERNAL'S RED VELVET CAKE

1/4 pound butter

2 eggs

2 ounces red food coloring

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups cake flour (must be cake flour)

11/2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa (Christine prefers Nestle's Quick)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

11/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon vinegar

1-2 tablespoons apple sauce, optional

Red Velvet Frosting (recipe below)

Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Make a paste of cocoa and food coloring. Add to creamed mixture. Mix salt with vanilla and buttermilk. Alternately add buttermilk and cocoa mixtures to flour, folding after each addition. On last folding, add baking soda and vinegar (and applesauce, if using). Do not beat.

Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Frost when cool.

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RED VELVET CAKE FROSTING

Add 5 tablespoons flour to 1 cup sweet whole milk. Boil until thick. Let stand at room temperature for a few hours, covered with wax paper. Beat 1 cup butter and 1 cup granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon vanilla with electric mixer until creamy. Add milk and flour mixture. Beat until fluffy. Frosts 1 Red Velvet cake.

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This recipe was given to me by longtime Colfax County resident Eloise Henry of Raton. I make it for potlucks, book-club meetings and visits to friends, and it is always moist and delicious. It also makes a quick and easy birthday cake. This cake is one of those precious things in life that gives results far beyond the effort required to produce it.

Henry suggests finishing the cake with chocolate frosting and serving it with ice cream or whipped cream.

ELOISE HENRY'S REAL MAYONNAISE CAKE

1 cup real mayonnaise

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

4 tablespoons cocoa

11/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup water

Cream together mayonnaise and sugar. Add other ingredients and mix well. Pour in greased 15- x 9-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean.

Sharon Niederman lives in Albuquerque and Raton. Visit her Web site at www.sharonniederman.com.