The Food Sitch: November 2016

So it's not edible, but it is a cake!

I've made a few diaper cakes for friends' baby showers as both a decoration and a present. They are fun to decorate and usually are a hit with parents and guests. Here is a final result.

The basis for my diaper cakes is from this video which also shows how to make rose decorations out of washcloths but this is a better overall cake video with the same basics.

The cake "ingredients" includes ribbons, rubber bands, double sided tape, a tray, cake pans in three sizes, and diapers. For the diapers I usually use a small bag of each of N, 1, and 2 sizes for a 4 layer cake, or a small bag each of 1 and 2 sizes for a 3 layer cake.

For the cake "filling" you can go simple and just use more diapers and a paper towel roll like in the videos, but I like to put more gifts in the middle which requires cloth filling materials such as burp cloths, swaddles, onesies, hats, bibs and a tall item such as a large baby shampoo, lotion, bottle of alcohol, diaper wipes.

For the cake "icing" and "garnish" you will need a bunch of small items that can be tucked in between the diapers and fit on the cake layers such as socks, shoes, pacifiers, mittens, and washcloths. And lastly you need a larger toy or item for the cake topper.

I highly recommend looking through the parent's baby registry to select what items you use as this way you know you are adding things they want. If they have a theme you can try to match the cake to that theme. My friends S&S had a fox theme so I ended up venturing onto Etsy for fox themed items.

Basic ingredients

To make each of the layers, place the diapers into the pan, layering them so each one sticks out from the previous one by a little bit. Use the largest size diapers for the largest layer, the smallest for the smallest. Place a rubber band around the diapers.

Middle layer still in the cake pan

The bottom layers will be a little bit looser and have a hole in the middle. This is where your cloth filling and tall item comes in (or more diapers and paper towel roll). You might have to experiment a little with items, but the goal is to have at least a tall item in the center so your layers stay centered and have some stability and to fill around the tall item with the cloth items. For the fox cake I started with a toy and some cloth items and was going to put a baby powder bottle on top of the toy, but that wasn't stable enough, so in the end I just went with a champagne bottle. Another thing that works great is two diaper wipes wrapped with swaddles.

The various layers

Champagne bottle center

Two Diaper wipes with swaddles center

Stack the layers up and then wrap ribbon around the rubber bands using some double sided tape for the ends (or glue or safety pin). Another option is to wrap cloth items around the layers which allows you to emphasize a theme or add some variety. However I would not recommend doing all the layers this way as the fact the cake is made of diapers would be lost.

Then you decorate! I find easy items to tuck into the cake are socks and mittens (which can be tucked into the ribbon), pacifiers, and then the washcloth roses made by just rolling a washcloth up. You can also hang things off the ribbon such as toys or shoes or stuffed animals. See my below cakes for ideas.