What Is A Diaper Cake?
Although a diaper cake is not made of sugar and spice, it is made with everything nice! You won't need an oven or a mixing bowl to make one, and as far as calories are concerned, there are none!
The main ingredient of these popular baby shower centerpieces is actually diapers, either disposable or cloth. Instead of frosting, the cake is decked out with rattles, bows, socks, and toys for the little bundle of joy.
A diaper cake is sure to elicit ooh's and aah's from anyone who sees it. However, this gift is also a practical one too. After the little one arrives, the new parents can disassemble it and use the "ingredients" of the cake to take care of the needs of their new baby.
If you are the crafty type, a diaper cake should be easy to make. We have included instructions on our site showing exactly how to make them. However, if you are afraid that you lack the skills or simply don't have the time, these crafty creations can also be purchased.
Diaper cake concoctions come in all shapes and sizes, from simple one tier designs to towering three and four tier showpieces. Depending on the embellishments used on the cake, they can cost anywhere from twenty dollars to a couple hundred dollars. They can even be formed to look like baby buggies and tricycles.
This practical but pleasing gift for expectant parents is sure to be the hit of any baby shower.
photo credit: mnd.ctrl
Where are the Best Places to Buy Diaper Cakes?
Are you wondering where you can buy diaper cakes? Unfortunately, you can't pick up the phone and place a call to your local bakery to order one of these calorie-free concoctions. It's going to take a little more effort. However, it should not take too much more.
First, if you don't mind paying shipping and handling charges, there are many places online that you can order one. In addition to the different online stores, you may also want to check eBay and Etsy.
Although eBay is commonly considered a good place to buy garage sale goods, that is not the only thing you can find there. Many crafters and artisans use it as a marketplace for their handmade creations. In fact, on any given day, there are actually hundreds of different diaper cakes available for sale on this popular auction site. With many of them offering a "Buy It Now" option, there's no need to hassle with the bidding process.
Another online venue that crafters use to sell their handmade products is Etsy. Like eBay, you should have no problem finding diaper cakes in a wide variety of themes and price ranges on Etsy.
If you do not want to buy one online, you can also check your local yellow pages. Call around to area baby boutiques, as well as craft consignment shops, to see if you can track down a local supplier.
photo credit: tierrific!
How to Make a Diaper Cake – Ingredients
Would you like to know how to make a diaper cake? You may be surprised at how simple these are to create.
Here are the ingredients for how to make a diaper cake with multiple tiers:
* A large pack of size 1 or size 2 diapers - It's better to have more diapers than you need than not enough. You can always slip the extras in a gift bag and give them to the mother to be.
* Clear rubber bands - Small rubber bands are needed to wrap around the individual diapers, and larger rubber bands to wrap around the cake tiers.
* A base for the cake - This can be as simple as a piece of cardboard covered in coordinating baby wrap. Plastic sandwich platters (for example, from Subway party platters), also work well for this purpose. No matter what you use, make sure it is sturdy.
* A wooden dowel cut to the same size as the cake - This will hold the tiers togethers. You will not need this item if you are wanting to keep things simple and make only a one tier cake. You can also use baby bottles instead to hold the cake layers together.
* Wide ribbon - This is used to cover up the rubber bands and to decorate the outside of the tiers.
* Decorations for the cake - Just about anything you can find in the baby department at your local store will work here, including bibs, pacifiers, baby socks, and stuffed animals. Confetti strips, die cut shapes, and artificial flowers are also good embellishments.
* Double-sided tape or other adhesive - This is used to secure the wide ribbon around the cake tiers.
In our next post, we will provide step by step instructions of how to make a diaper cake.
photo credit: tierrific!
How to Make a Diaper Cake – Directions
In our previous post in our three part series about how to make a diaper cake, we provide the ingredients needed for this project.
Once you have all the ingredients, you are ready to start baking (or should I say making!) your concoctions. Following are the step by step instructions:
Step One:
Roll up each diaper individually and secure with a rubber band. Most disposable nappies have a pattern at the top of the diaper. To keep this from showing, start rolling from the pattern end, finishing with the white on the outside.
Step Two:
Once all diapers are rolled, you are ready to start building the cake tiers. Place the dowel in the middle of a diaper roll, and place on the cake platter. Place a large rubber band around this center roll, and add additional diaper rolls, forming a circle around the center diaper. If the cake is a two tier cake, add one more rubber band and an additional layer of diapers. Repeat this process once more for a three tier cake.
Step Three:
Repeat step two for the remaining tiers. Each tier up will have one less layer, until the final tier is reached, which consists of a middle diaper and one layer of surrounding diapers.
Step Four:
Using double sided tape, adhere the wide ribbon to each cake layer.
Step Five:
Decorate the cake by adding the embellishments. To keep them in place, tuck them into the diaper folds or beneath the ribbon. Don't forget to add a bouquet of flowers or a stuffed animal, as the focal point at the top of the cake.
Now that you know how to make a diaper cake, what do you think? If you are still confused, then make sure you check out the final post of this three part series. It includes a video showing you the process, as well as gives you some ideas for alternative variations.
photo credit: Outsanity Photos
How to Make a Diaper Cake – Instructions with Video
This is the final post in our three part series about how to make a diaper cake. In the previous two posts, we talked about the ingredients needed, as well as gave step by step instructions, for making an adorable cake that could be used as a baby shower centerpiece.
In this, our third and final installment in the series, we are providing a video showing you the process of building a cake. After the video, we discuss some variations, because no two diaper cakes are the same!
Here's our favorite video showing how to make a diaper cake. Thanks to Nisha at Creative Baby Shower Ideas for sharing this video.
Now, let's discuss variations. You may have noticed that Nisha did not make her cake exactly as we described in our previous instructions. Most noticeably, instead of using a dowel, she used baby bottles to secure the center of her cake and to build the tiers.
This is just one of many variations. Some people have a difficult time tracking down clear colored rubbered bands. If all you can find are the colored ones, go ahead and use them. After building the final layer around tiers, you can remove the rubber bands, tying around a thin coordinating ribbon around each diaper as you do, to secure it.
If removing and replacing rubber bands sounds like too much trouble, keep the rubber bands in place. To hide them, wrap a receiving blanket around each cake layer, and then add your wide ribbon to secure the blanket. This way the rubber bands are hidden by the blanket.
Some people also use itty bitty pieces of tape instead of rubber bands. If you do this, just make sure the diaper can still be used once the cake is dismantled.
You can also make them without even rolling up the diapers. We found a wonderful video tutorial on another website showing how to make a diaper cake using flat diapers instead of rolled ones.