How to Make a Diaper Cake - Easy step by step directions (2024)

• Shawn Mosch
• July 25, 2009
• 2 Comments

Are you looking for a fun and unique baby shower gift, or a great way centerpiece for the tables at a baby shower you are hosting? How about a Diaper Cake! These cakes are not only easy to make, they are a show stopper because everyone will want to take a look at them . . . and, the Mother-to-be will be able to use all of the items in the cake when their little one arrives.

Purchase a case of Size One diapers, or two cases if you will be doing multiple cakes. Roll the diapers and secure them with a rubber band. This is the most time consuming part of the cake, but it could easily be done while you are sitting on the couch catching up on your favorite television show.

Next, get a large cake platter or cut a piece of cardboard the size of a cake platter. This will be the foundation for the cake. Arrange the diapers on a circle, with one single diaper alone as the core of the layers. I turned all of mine so that the pictures on the top of the diapers were towards the inside, but if the colors of the diaper work with your theme, you could turn them to the outside . . . or alternate every other tier. How big you want to make the layer depends on you and how many tiers you would like on your cake. Experiment a little to see what looks good.

Once you have the one layer arranged, secure it with a piece of curling ribbon. This holds the diapers and helps them not to wiggle around, and it will hide all of the rubber bands. Then you can take a larger piece of decorative ribbon and place it around the tier. I secured mine in the back with just a few little hand-sewn stitches, or you could use double stick tape. Continue doing this for each tier of the cake, making each one a ring smaller than the last.

Now for the really fun part . . . decorating the cake! Use your imagination! I found a Teddy Bear with a shirt that said “It’s a Girl” on it for the topper on the main cake, and the toppers on the two smaller cakes are bath tub toys, but you could use rattles, bottles, pacifiers. Then, I used some baby spoons to stand up in the main cake. I thought that they looked like candles in the cake. To finish everything off I added some large bows with multi-colored ribbons hanging down from them. Some of the ribbons even says “It’s A Girl”.

If you wanted to make it a theme cake, for example bath time, you could use bath toys and washcloths to decorate the cake. You can even roll the washcloths to look like little rose buds. Whatever you do, have fun with it and be creative, and the Mother-to-be will love it!

Diaper Cake Tutorials

Since the time of this original post I have been asked several times for more details on how I made my diaper cakes. I created a full tutorial that you can find below.

You could also make rolled paper flowers to decorate your diaper cakes. I have some tips and tricks HERE for making rolled paper flowers.