A Different Kind of Cake...(zero calories!)

I recently helped throw a double baby shower,

where I got to make diaper cakes!

Now, I don't really consider myself a crafty person, but I thought it was something I could probably do without too much of a fuss.  :)

I kept them pretty plain and simple,

but you can easily dress up a diaper cake with lots of

baby toys

and 

clothes

and

bottles

and

doo-dads of all sorts.

But I'm not really a doo-dadd-y person.

If you are, we should be friends and you can help me
become more doo-dadd-y savvy.  (?)

(I can't take credit for those cute giraffe pops my friend made!)

I've also seen the rolled-style diaper cakes, but liked the look of this style better, plus the diapers will be easier for the new mom to use (they won't be all rolled and crumpled up).

I used this link as a guideline, but learned some things along the way that I liked better.

So, next time you're itchin' to make a cake but want to cut the calories WAY down...try making a diaper cake.  :)

Non-Rolled Diaper Cake

Makes 1 three-tier diaper cake

-56 Pampers Swaddlers diapers (size 1) (bottom tier-30, middle-20, top-6)

-a 10-in cake pan, to help mold the bottom two tiers & hold in place while wrapping the rubber bands around

-2 large rubber bands (for the bottom two tiers)

-1 medium-sized rubber band (for the top tier)

-cardboard, cut in a circle for a cake stand (I measured this after I made the bottom tier according to how big I fanned out the diapers)

-tissue paper for wrapping the cardboard cake stand

-1 empty paper towel cardboard roll

-tape

-glue (hot glue gun works best)

-ribbon for decorating

-baby toys, clothes, flowers, buttons, doo-dads, etc for embellishments

The link that I mentioned above gives pretty good instructions for the assembly.  

I used all 30 diapers for the bottom tier (I didn't stuff any in the middle) and just used plastic grocery bags to stuff in the middle (I did this for the bottom two tiers).  This also fanned the diapers out a little further, which I liked (you could also stuff blankets or onesies in the middle).

I only had a glue stick for attaching the ribbon, but ended up having to use some tape in the back to keep it together--a hot glue gun would be a much better choice!

All in all, it was a lot of fun to put these together--next time it'll go a lot faster now that I've done it once!