You Too Can Make Diaper Cakes!

**Diaper Cakes are all the rage right now ... and they're a Piece of Cake to make with my free diaper cake instructions.**

For those of you who have never heard of diaper cakes (or cake diapers, as some people call them), they're the adorable baby shower centerpieces that resemble a cake but are made of diapers. Small baby items and ribbon are usually attached as decorations.

Who can make diaper cakes? Only the creative? Only the artistic? No, any one can make diaper cakes!

But, based on my experience attending many baby showers with diaper cakes, the diaper cake is the one thing that you should spend a little extra time and effort on. It's the centerpiece of the shower. It sets the tone of the celebration. It's what your guests and the Mother-To-Be will be inspecting and trying to figure out how it was put together.

Everyone just loves diaper cakes!

I'll give you a couple of general step-by-step instructions on how to make your very own diaper cake. They're easy to make and there is no right or wrong way to do it. Just let your creativity flow when you think about what kind of diaper cake you want at the baby shower:

you can use cloth or disposable diapers
you can have one or many layers
you can roll the diapers individually and bundle them together (as in Recipe 1), or roll the diapers around each other to make one fat layer (as in Recipe 2)
you can personalize the decorations to suit your shower and tastes (I like the themed baby cakes, like frogs, Noah's Ark, etc,)

If you've never seen a diaper cake or if you're not sure you want to attempt make one, see below for some pictures of ready-made diaper cakes.

So are you ready to start cooking?

3 Tier Diaper Cake - Individual Rolls version

Ingredients:

50 diapers - size 1 or 2 disposable diapers or 50 cloth diapers (the quantity depends upon how large you want the cake and the number of tiers - there's no set rule here)
16" Disposable cardboard platter (buy in party store)
100' Ribbon (less if you use rubber bands)
1 Baby bottle (to use like a candle - you can fill it with candy if you like)
Baby decorating items (pacifiers, nail clippers, travel shampoos, booties, rattles, bibs, etc.)
Misc decorating items (roses made of baby socks, silk flowers, complementary colored ribbons, lace, bows, etc.)

Miscellaneous items you will need:

Regular and double-sided tape - for use with disposable diapers
Diaper pins or straight pins - for use with cloth diapers
Scissors
Rubber bands instead of so much ribbon (optional) - You can use rubber bands around the individual diaper rolls if you plan on wrapping the assembled layer with a thick ribbon, bib, blanket or something else to cover them.

Recipe:

The Rolling
1. Cut your ribbon into 50 1-foot length strips to use for tying the individual diaper rolls. Note: You can also use rubber bands, and when the cake is assembled, cover the rubber bands with a thick ribbon or something that wraps around the entire cake layer.
2. For each disposable diaper, open it and roll it up in a jelly roll fashion (if you want the decorated/printed part on the diapers to show on the finished cake, start rolling from the plain side). If you're using cloth diapers, open each one up and fold it 3 times (tri-fold) to make a long strip, then roll it up like a jelly roll.
3. Tie the diaper roll with a piece of ribbon or wrap a rubber band around it.
The Tier Assembly
1. Top Layer - Stand 5 or 6 diapers around the baby bottle and tie them tightly with ribbon or wrap a rubber band around them. Tape or pins may be used to help secure them, depending on if you're using disposable or cloth diapers. Note: In the final design, the baby bottle will look like a candle sticking out of the middle.
2. Middle Layer - Stand about 17 diapers together and tie them together as a bundle with ribbon or rubber bands.
3. Bottom Layer - Stand the remaining diapers together and tie them together as a bundle with ribbon or rubber bands. Since this layer is so big, you may have to tie an inner bundle together first, then bundle the other rolls around it.
The Cake Assembly
1. Secure the bottom layer to the cardboard platter with double-sided tape.
2. Secure the middle layer to the bottom layer with double sided-tape or pins.
3. Secure the top layer to the middle layer with double sided-tape or pins.
Decorating (the fun part)
1. If you used rubber bands, you'll need to cover them up with ribbon or by wrapping a blanket or other items around the layers. You can also drape a cute bib for added effect.
2. Attach baby accessories and other decorations all around the cake with ribbons, tape, or pins. You can also tuck them into the existing ribbon or between rolls.
3. You can wrap finished diaper cake with cellophane paper and ribbons.

2 Tier Diaper Cake - One Big Roll version

Ingredients:

70 diapers - size 1 or 2 disposable diapers or 70 cloth diapers (the quantity depends upon how large you want the cake and the number of tiers - there's no set rule here)
18" Disposable cardboard platter (buy in party store)
Ribbon
1 Baby bottle (to use like a candle - you can fill it with candy if you like)
Baby decorating items (pacifiers, nail clippers, travel shampoos, booties, rattles, bibs, etc.)
Misc decorating items (roses made of baby socks, silk flowers, complementary colored ribbons, lace, bows, etc.)

Miscellaneous items you will need:

Regular and double-sided tape - for use with disposable diapers
Diaper pins or straight pins - for use with cloth diapers
Scissors
Rubber bands (optional)

Recipe:

The Rolling and Tier Assembly
1. Top Layer - Use 15 diapers. For disposable diapers, open up the first one and roll it around the baby bottle in a jelly roll fashion. Tape it. Take the next diaper and wrap it around the first, and continue until you've used up your 15 diapers.You end up with one "continuous" jelly roll all wrapped up. If you're using cloth diapers, open each one up and fold it 3 times (tri-fold) to make a long strip, then roll it up like a jelly roll around the baby bottle. Continue wrapping the remaining 14 diapers around the first as described above. You end up with one "continuous" jelly roll all wrapped up.
2. Secure the entire layer with double sided tape, pins, rubber bands, or tie a ribbon around the whole tier.
3. Bottom Layer - Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the remaining 55 diapers (but you won't be wrapping the first diaper around a bottle - that's just for the top layer)
The Cake Assembly
1. Secure the bottom layer to the cardboard platter with double-sided tape.
2. Secure the top layer to the bottom layer with double sided-tape or pins.
Decorating (the fun part)
1. If you used rubber bands, you'll need to cover them up with ribbon or by wrapping a blanket or other items around the layers.You can also drape a cute bib for added effect.
2. Attach baby accessories and other decorations all around the cake with ribbons, tape, or pins. You can also tuck them into the existing ribbon inside of the roll.
3. You can wrap finished diaper cake with cellophane paper and ribbons.

Making a diaper cake is not difficult, but it is time consuming. Let me repeat what I said earlier, everyone is going to be inspecting your diaper cake, so make sure it's memorable. All you need is some extra time, patience, and a little creativity, and you too can make your masterpiece diaper cake, but ...

... there is an easier way.

Buy your perfect diaper cake!

No running around town (or the internet) looking for supplies and decorations. No figuring out how much ribbon to buy. No worrying about it looking great. No fretting about time.

I found a great website featuring more than 40 unique and adorable diaper cakes at reasonable prices. One was even featured on the hit TV show Sex and the City. Even if you decide not to buy one, you can at least use these to spark some great ideas for your own diaper cake.

Click here to see some diaper cakes that will be the hit of your baby shower!