TIJUANA.- A bakery will join forces with the Cultural Center to present on Thursday the largest rosca de reyes ever created on the border.

The rosca, a round holiday cake with special filling, will be 1,148 feet long and will circle the center's iconic round theater, known as La Bola, on Jan. 6, Día de los Reyes Magos, or Day of the Wise Men.

Organizers plan to serve a slice of this traditional cake to at least 6,000 people.

"We want to share with the community the unique taste of the roscas de reyes that we make," said Ricardo Santos, the manager of the El Molino cake shop.

For the second year in a row the bakery, along with Tijuana's Cultural Center (CECUT), will present the giant rosca, but this time it will be 164 feet longer than in 2010.

"The reason we're making it a little bit bigger is because a lot of people didn't get to taste it last year," said Melinda Elizabeth López, the center's media manager. "We also want to make this a traditional event in this city."

The 6,000 people who turned out last year consumed the cake in about 30 minutes. The event had its roots in 1987, when various bakeries baked a rosca that was 695 feet long.

Starting Tuesday, 15 bakers from El Molino will began baking this year's rosca, Santos said. They prepared pieces about 3 feet long that they will assemble Thursday.

They will use 1,102 pounds of flour, 220 pounds of eggs, 110 pounds of butter, margarine or vegetable oil, and 110 pounds of mixed fruit.

He said that unlike other shops, the bakery will rely on a traditional recipe it has used since 1929, when it began operations in Mexico City, and that it has shared with Tijuana's community for 20 years.

The recipe calls for the cake to have a filling of fresh fruit, such as figs, raisins, jícama, papaya and candied cactus called biznaga. The outside will have cherries, fig and candied fruit that give the cake a special flavor.

Two figurines representing Niños Dioses or Baby Jésus will be hidden in the cake at intervals of three feet or so, for a total of 700 figurines. As the custom goes, whoever gets one of the figures has to invite his family for a meal of tamales, or tamaliza, on Feb. 2.

The cost of producing the giant rosca de reyes will be about $12,200; the bakery will pay 70 per cent and the remainder will be covered by the CECUT, Santos said.

Though the rosca de reyes promises to be immense, the rosca that has the world's record measured 2,362 feet long and was presented Mexico City's zócalo.

This story was published in The Union-Tribune's Latino weekly newspaper, Enlace.