Diaper Cake Tutorial

Diaper cake: A cake made out of diapers.  It is not edible.

Our church has multiple women’s groups.  Each one is grouped (intentionally or unintentionally) by age and stage of life.  Ours is mostly 30-somethings with kids but it’s not limited to being in your 30’s.  They are all under the “Christian Women’s Fellowship” umbrella but they each meet separately and each have different m.o.’s.  Some get together for bible study or book club.  Some get together for dinner on a regular basis.  Ours likes to get together to drink wine and chit chat.  Each group has a ministry they provide the church.  Ours is providing church families who have had a new baby with a hot meal and a diaper cake.  Since most of us have young kids we can truly appreciate and understand how important it is to not have to cook in those first few weeks of coming home from the hospital.

Our supply of diaper cakes was getting low so last week a few of us got together to make some more.  A diaper cake makes a great gift for a new mom.  It’s something that she really needs…diapers…crafted into a beautiful gift.

Should you be so inclined to gift a new mom with one of these amazing cakes here is what you will need:

35 size 1 diapers
25 size 2 diapers
12 inch cardboard cake plate
string or kitchen twine
3 inch wide wired ribbon
2 inch wide wired ribbon
large baby wash or 10 oz. Clorox wipes or Gerber Puffs snacks
travel size baby wash, lotion, baby sunscreen
pacifier
small rattle or toy
1 1/2 yards tulle
shredded paper confetti (found by gift bags and tissue paper)
hot glue gun

Begin by lining up 35 size 1 diapers and tying them together with string.  Make it tight.

Keeping them secured together with string, slowly push them (someone came up with the term “massage them”) into a circle.  Make sure the folded side of the diaper is on the outside of the circle.  The first time is the hardest.  You may have to start over a few times but don’t get frustrated.  Once you have them in a circle place the baby wash, wipes or Puffs in the center.

This is the bottom layer of the cake.  Place it on the cardboard cake plate.

Secure 35 size 2 diapers with string and do the same thing to work them into a circle.  This will be the second cake layer.  Place that one top of the bottom layer and around your baby wash/wipes/Puffs.

Now it’s time to decorate.

Hot glue the 3 inch wide ribbon around both layers of the cakes.  DO NOT hot glue the ribbon to the diapers.  Cut a length of ribbon so that it goes around cake and overlaps itself about two inches.  Apply hot glue on the right side of one of the ends of the ribbon then pull the ribbon tight and place the other side that overlaps on the glue.  Hold in place until it cools.  A new mom who is trying to disassemble the cake and ends up having to rip diapers that have been hot glued to ribbon will turn into a blubbering mess.  It’s a cruel trick to play on a new mom.  Don’t do it.

Do the same with the a coordinating color, 2 inch wide ribbon.  I chose a very sheer ribbon so I decided to tie a bow instead of gluing it in place.  Either way will work.  At this point you can choose to remove the string holding the diapers in place.  It’s not necessary but if you can see the string I suggest taking it off.

Tuck travel size baby wash, lotion, diaper cream, etc. in between the diapers.  I used baby wash, baby sunscreen and baby wash cloths.

Place the shredded paper confetti on top of both layers.  You don’t have to cover the entire bottom layer.  Just the part that you can see.  Top the cake with a small toy, pacifiers, rubber ducky or whatever you think would be useful.

Almost done.  Now it’s time to wrap it all up.

It’s best to use tulle by the yard however, tulle that comes on a spool will work as well.  If using tulle that comes on a spool (like ribbon) use the widest tulle you can find.  At least 5 inches wide.  Cut 5-6 strips 1 1/2 yards long and place them in a spoke pattern on the floor.  Place the cake in the center of the spoke and pull the ends up to the top and tie with a string.  If using tulle by the yard (the prefered method), center the cake on 1 1/2 yards of tulle and pull all of the tulle up to the top and tie with string.  Embellish with a big bow and you’re done.

We made a dozen cakes in about 2 hours with plenty of time for wine and snacks.