The old Gazette announced its latest reader participation extravaganza this morning — the “Autumn Cake Party” will give readers the chance to submit their favorite cake recipes.

Ten recipes will be chosen and cooked by the newspaper’s culinary partners — instructors and students at Schenectady County Community College’s nationally accredited American Culinary Federation culinary arts program. We’re selling tickets, $9 a pop, and people will taste the 10 and vote for their favorites. The Price Chopper supermarket chain is also chipping in.

We’ve done these contests before. Chili con carne was first, followed by soup, followed by last year’s pasta and pizza extravaganza. And now, frosting and fillings.

I have been entrusted by my superior officers at the newspaper to coordinate the contest, write stories, count ballots, cart leftovers. The same way I was entrusted for similar exercises with chili con carne, soup, then pizza and pasta. Some people might say, “Oh, you get stuck with it every year,” but I would never say something like that! After all, we’re raising funds for the good people at the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, and people seem to have a fine time at these taste tests. Bunches of them come up to me and ask why we don’t put out more chairs. Happens every year.

I prefer Duncan Renaldo to Duncan Hines, Betty Page to Betty Crocker. That means while I can put together a killer batch of chili, make excellent potato salad, damn tasty mashed potatoes, terrific chicken salad and a gourmet meat loaf my friends say is excellent (as long as plenty of ketchup is around), I have never baked a cake. I’ve thought about making my own chocolate chip cookies on occasion, but have decided to leave such creations to experts. My colleague Judy Patrick knows the dough; my sister Joanne also comes through when the chips are down in a large bowl.

I guess I’m just not nuts about cake. I can eat cheesecake all day, but that’s really more pie than cake. And heaven help the home chef who submits a cheesecake recipe for the “Autumn Cake Party.” It has been forbidden in the rules — written by yours truly. And if a cheesy recipe comes into the newspaper’s cake headquarters — the desk of yours truly — I shall strike down upon it with great vengeance and furious anger. One of my perks as cake czar.

I kind of wonder if we’ll get any recipes for Boston Cream Pie, which is really a cake. I hope so — the combo of chocolate, layers of dough and custard filling goes together like Hope, Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. I could also find a fork for one of those chocolate layer cakes, but those slices have to be cold. Ice cold. A warm, room temperature cake is about as appetizing as one of my meat loafs without ketchup.

My all-time favorite cake is rum cake. But not just any rum cake. As a kid growing up in Rochester, I remember my father occasionally bringing home a rummie made at one of the bakeries near the Eastman Kodak Co. I always remember these things seemed to be saturated with rum; they were just so wet and heavy, like every large slice weighed half a pound. You could almost get drunk. Wish that bakery was still around.

Any other rum cake I’ve ever tasted has seemed light. Nothing to them. So I don’t go for rum cake any more.

Maybe we’ll see one on Thursday, Nov. 13, at the big cake taste at SCCC. Along with lemons-limes, cherry vanilla and creamy custard cakes. Say hello if you see me — I’ll be the one with frosting on my fingers.