I have made a few diaper cakes over the years. This is the method that works best for me. I have always been so happy with the finished results - and it just happens to be super easy! Bonus!!
Find a different size basket or container for each layer of your
cake. This is just so you have a solid shape to work with, the diapers won't be staying in the basket. My cake was three layers so I used a large wire casserole basket, a
pie plate and a lid from a small decorative bucket.
Starting with the largest container, simply fold the diaper in
half and start placing them in the basket with the fold facing out. This is
so much easier than rolling and putting rubber bands around all those diapers. I find it looks cleaner, too. The
basket helps hold everything in place until you tie a string around it
at the end. When the circle of diapers is done, stuff something in the middle to
help hold the shape. I used more diapers, but you could use a baby
bottle or a rolled up onesie. Depending on the size of your cake, you will probably only have to do this for the bottom layer.
Tie some string around the outside of the diapers to hold it all together. This will be covered before the cake is
finished, so don't worry about it looking nice. I just used some twine I found in my kitchen junk drawer.
Removing the
diapers can be the tricky part. Put a plate the same circumference (or
slightly smaller) as the layer you are working with on top of the
diapers and flip it over so the bottom becomes the top. For the smaller
layers you probably won't need anything if they are
compact enough.
Now the fun part - decorating the cake!!
For the larger layers, fold a
swaddle blanket to match the height of the diapers. Simply wrap it
around the cake and safety pin it in the back. For the smaller layers,
receiving blankets or oversized burp cloths work well. After the blankets are secure, stack the
layers and situate the pins at the back of the cake. Next wrap ribbon
around the center of as many layers as you would like. You may decide to
just do the top and bottom, or maybe just one beautiful bow perched on
top to cascade down the layers.
NOTE: If you decide to leave the diapers on your cake visible, simply
skip the blanket step and cover each layer of twine with wide ribbon.
For this "Two Peas in a Pod" themed cake, I took it one step further and made tiny pea pods out of washcloths.
Here's how I did it:
First I rolled two washcloths and taped them down to form the peas. Next, I folded a burp cloth in half lengthwise and then wrapped it around the peas to form the pod. I just used ribbon to tie off the one end and then played a bit to get it just right and tied off the other end.
There are so many things you can put on a diaper cake. Just come up with a fun theme and go from there. This cake was for a "Ready to Pop" baby shower. I took a few onesies that matched the colors of our theme, used the same rolling technique, backed each one with a lollipop stick and then wrapped it in cellophane to create little lollipops t decorate the cake with!
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| This diaper cake made the perfect centerpiece for a "Ready to Pop" shower! |
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Having a cupcake, little sweetie or sprinkle themed shower? How about creating a box of cupcakes instead of a whole cake? Or top off the cake with one beautiful cupcake on top! These were all made with receiving blankets wrapped around onesies and tucked into large cupcake wrappers. The results were almost sweet enough to eat.
