My son is getting married! It turns out that he found the perfect girl for him, whew! It is always so fun to see your kids with a companion that is just right for them. That being said, we are now in the process of planning another wedding. His cute bride is from a city about an hour and a half north of us, so we (ok, I) decided that we will also host a small open house so our friends and family can more conveniently come by and wish the new couple well. And I really like to host a party.
I love to bake! I love to bake so much that I volunteered to make the wedding cakes for my first son's wedding.
That was a little too much. I won't make that mistake again. The cakes were gorgeous and yummy, but it was just too much stress, even for the Mother of the Groom. So for our open house for my second son, first, it will be two weeks after the wedding and reception, so way less stressful, right? Second, it's not 2 wedding cakes, it will just be a little bit of "refreshments". I like the idea of making cupcakes and having a small cake on top so it resembles the look of a wedding cake.
Well I looked all over the web for the right cupcake tower. The only one that I really liked I couldn't find a pattern for. So I combined a couple of different ideas and came up with my own pattern. Yes, I have copied someone else's look, but just in my own ability to draw. Hopefully no one gets upset at me. And I don't draw so well, you could always try your own style.
Here are the materials I used:
3 2' x 4' x 1/4" sheets MDF (it is way easier to transport 2x4 sheets instead of a huge 4x8. I didn't quite use all three sheets).
4 cans spray paint
Jig saw with blade
Hand held sander and sand paper
The sheets of MDF were $7 something at Home Depot, so I paid $22 something there. Then the spray paint, I ended up getting a nicer one instead of cheap, so I spent about $20 on 4 cans of spray paint. You could always get a better price than I did. So around $50 and I have a cute cupcake tower.
I was surprised at how easily the MDF cut. I grew up in a house with a Dad that loves woodworking. He has all the tools. But he lives an hour away so I wanted to see if I could just make it without taking a long car ride. Years ago (when we were doing toll painting, some of you remember those days), my Dad bought me my very own Jig Saw. I have cut a few things out with it I am proud to say. So I got out the old saw and went to work.
The sizes I decided to go with are : 24", 20", 16", 12" then 8.5". I ended up also making a 10" one just in case. My idea is to have the small cake on top, but I also host bridal showers every year or so, so just in case I want cupcake on top instead of a cake, I made a 10". I made the circles the old fashioned way, with a pencil and string. The side supports were the part that had me a little nervous. I didn't just want plain blocks. I wanted it to be cute and functional. Once all my circles were cut out I designed the side supports. More on that later. Oh, and my circles are less than perfect. I hope only I will notice.
Here is a picture of the 24" and 20" circles, sitting on two Home Depot buckets, ready to be cut out.
And the smaller circles. I just couldn't decide if I wanted an 8" circle on top for a small cake, or a 9" for a 9" cake, or maybe I would another time only put cupcakes, so I opted for both since I had plenty of wood. Just choose one if you are not as indecisive as myself.
The circles cut out super fast. I think each one only took me 5 minutes or less.
The side supports took me a bit longer. First, I decided I wanted each one to be 5" tall. Then for each support, I took the size of the circle and subtracted a couple of inches. So the length of my supports are: 7", 10", 14" 18"
Here is a pattern for the supports:
So, cut out the pattern, place it on the edge of the rectangle you have drawn, trace it and cut. The inside scroll is a little tricky. I found if I went really slow that I could maneuver the curve better. I also found the hardest part was actually the long edges. If I were at my parents house I could run it through a table saw and they would be exactly even and straight. But I wanted to just complete it with my little saw without help from my dad or husband.
Which means, my long sides were not straight. So when my engineer husband came home from work I showed him the great project I had undertaken while he was gone and said I just needed a little help from him; how to straighten my long sides, and how to make sure that the notches I cut would nestle correctly so they would make a stand. This is how he straightened the sides for me:
He sat the two sides together on a work table, then used our little hand sander to make them even. He flipped them over and did the other side as well. They really need to be exactly even or your circles will wobble and fall. No one wants cupcakes to fall. Then I used the sander to finish off the edges of everything.
To cut notches so they will stand up, my husband measured 2.5" from the top of one and the bottom of the other, then he cut them out with my little saw 1/4" strips.
This is before paint. Also, I wanted a cupcake tower that I can fully disassemble. That thing is way too big to store like this. With this style everything comes apart and will just sit in a corner in my pantry until ready to be used. I also decided not to make a bottom stand. It is already pretty tall. If you decide to add one, I would just cut out a 1x2 and make an X or you could also make a little box or frame to hold the base.
And here is after. The spray painting was a total pain by the way. Once we have our open house I will put in a picture of it with a cake and cupcakes, but that is not until June and I want to get this posted in case some cute bride wants to try and make this before her wedding. Hope this helps someone!
