Kitchen Towel Cake

I had so much fun making this for my future sister-in-law's kitchen-themed bridal shower! It served as both a decoration and a gift (along with her gorgeous apron made by Sarah of so sarah designs.) Beautiful and practical. (You could say that describes me and this towel cake, right?!) I found basic directions for making a kitchen towel cake on this website, however, there was no photo of what a finished towel cake looks like. Then, I found a nice picture here, which helped me some. It still took a little bit of trial and error, but I think the results were well worth some mild frustration. I would also like to thank my hubby for his assistance since he was the one who pointed out that I needed more stuff to fill out the bottom layer! I hope that my directions are helpful to you if you are trying to make your own kitchen towel cake.

Materials Needed for Kitchen Towel Cake:

• 6 kitchen towels (They don't have to be the same color but they should all be the same size.)
• 4+ dish cloths (I used 9 total)
• safety pins
• assorted ribbon
• hot glue gun
• kitchen utensils (I used wooden spoons, scrub brushes, sponges, spatula, dish soap, and a silicone basting brush.)
• extra items for adding bulk (I used empty cardboard ribbon spools, but oven mitts or pot holders would be a logical choice, too.)

Directions for Making Kitchen Towel Cake:

{Details of the two layers}

1. To make the bottom layer of the towel cake, take 6 kitchen towels and fold them hot dog style. Make sure all of the towels are folded the same way. I folded my towels so that one side covered about 2/3 of the other side (not in half, although you could do this for a layer that is not as tall.)
2. Next, lay them end to end and then use 2 safety pins to attach each towel to the next one.
3. For my towel layer, I added bulk by taking 5 dishcloths, folding them in half, laying them end to end, pinning them, and tightly rolling them as tightly as possible. Then I laid the dishcloths on top of one edge of the towels and then rolled the towels as tightly as possible. Rolling tightly helps it look neat and uniform. If using an oven mitt or pot holders, place these near one edge and then tightly roll the towels. I also tucked in a few empty cardboard ribbon spools to help the towels keep their form. For a finishing touch, I tied a piece of wide brown ribbon around the towels. Tip: To make the notch on the end of ribbon, fold the end in half (about 1-2 inches) and then cut on an angle until you meet the fold with your scissors.
4. To make the top tier of my cake I folded 4 dishcloths in half. Next, I laid them end to end, pinned them together, and placed a small bottle of dish detergent on one side before rolling as tightly as possible. (I think this looks a bit like a small third tier or cake topper and makes it look more finished.) I also added the same brown ribbon I used on the towel layer but instead of tying it, I hot glued it to itself. Then, I added another decorative ribbon on top and attached it with hot glue.
5. Set the dishcloth layer on top of the towel layer. (This is why the neat rolling is helpful. If they are lumpy, it won't stand up nicely.) I think I also tucked one or two empty cardboard ribbon spools in the bottom to help it stand up.
6. Decorate the towel cake. I tucked two wooden spoons and a turquoise spatula in among the dishcloths. Next, I tucked a turquoise dish scrubber into the left side of the towel layer and a vegetable peeler/scrubber and silicone basting brush into the right side of the towel layer. There was another sponge that I tied on using decorative ribbon with turquoise dots. I had two soft scrubbies that had loops on them so I put on over the handle of a utensil on either side of the cake. I added more dotted ribbon to finish the cake by tying it onto some of the utensils including the wooden spoons. The finishing touch was to make a bow out of green wired ribbon and tying it onto the spatula on top of the cake. Tip: Wired ribbon is perfect for this because you can bend and form the ribbon into visually-pleasing cascades.
7. Display your towel cake. Tip: To make a base for the towel cake, I used a 12" x 12" piece of cardstock. I traced around a stock pot to make a large circle. Then I cut out the circle using scalloped scissors. You could also use a pretty plate, cardboard that has been painted or covered with decorative paper, a doily, or a purchased cake round.