• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Decorated Treats

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Cake Recipes
    • Cookies Recipes
    • Brownies & Bars
    • Bread & Pastry Recipes
    • Sweets & Candies Recipes
    • Jellies, Mousses and Puddings
    • Frosting and Icing Recipes
  • Designs & Tutorials
  • Tips & Techniques
    • Preparing Cakes for Decoration
    • Fondant Decorating
    • Piping Techniques for Cake Decorating
    • Gum Paste Flowers - How to Make
    • Decorating with Chocolate
    • Other Techniques
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Tutorials
  • Techniques
  • About Me
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • Tutorials
    • Techniques
    • About Me
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×
    Decorated Treats » Other Techniques

    DIY Cupcake Holder (How to Make)

    Published: Jul 29, 2020 · Modified: May 5, 2023 by Priya Maha

    Learn how to make a DIY cupcake holder with this easy tutorial. It is quick and easy and makes a perfect addition to your dessert table. You can customize this simple stand to any color to suit your party theme too.

    A 3 tier cupcake holder in silver and red.

    In this post, I have shared the step by step guide to creating a beautiful and functional 3 tier DIY cupcake holder that will impress your guests and make your cupcakes stand out. It is a great way to display not just your cupcakes but also your other favorite treats at birthday parties, dinner parties, baby shower and even weddings!

    And if you like this DIY cupcake holder idea and are into DIY projects, you should also check out my other post on how to make cupcakes stand for yet another creative DIY cupcake stand idea. And you might also want to check out this post on how to make your own cake boards to learn how to make your own custom designed cake board.

    Jump to:
    • ❤️ Why you will love this tutorial
    • 📋Supplies required
    • 🧾Substitution and variations
    • ✂️How to Make
    • 💡Expert tips
    • 💭 FAQs
    • ❤️More tutorials you will love❤️

    I made this DIY cupcake stand for my son's 12th birthday party. And it was crafted in a simple design to match the theme colors of his Marvel Superheroes party as well as the personalized cupcakes.  

    A red and silver cupcake holder with Superheroes themed cupcakes.

    ❤️ Why you will love this tutorial

    • This is an easy project. It is easy to follow (with detailed step by step images) and easy to make.
    • You only need 4 simple items to make the cupcake holder, i.e. cake boards, styrofoam blocks (or tin cans), wrapping paper and hot glue gun. These are relatively cheap items that are easily available and can be purchased from a dollar store or your local craft store.
    • You can create custom cupcake holders to match your party theme at a fraction of the cost required to purchase them from elsewhere.
    • It is a great way to save space on your dessert table.
    • You can use it not just for cupcakes but also for other sweet treat like fruit jelly cups, puddings like these Biscoff pudding cups, cheesecake in cups like this kiwi cheesecake, mini cheesecakes like these Snickers cheesecakes and other treats.

    📋Supplies required

    • Cake boards - I used a total of three boards. 1 for the top measuring 6 inches in diameter, the one in the center measuring 8 inches, and the bottom one measuring 11 inches in diameter. If you prefer to make these on your own, here is my tutorial on how to make your own cake boards. It is recommended for the 11 inches round cake board (i.e. the base board) to be a cake drum or a thick cake board (you can stack 3 cake boards together to make a thick board) for additional stability).
    • Styrofoam cylinder blocks - I used 2 of these blocks for the cupcake holder and they formed the center core. Each was 3 inches in diameter and approximately 3.75 inches in height. 
    • Wrapping papers - For this project, I used 2 different colors; silver and red.
    • Paper glue - I used paper glue to stick the wrapping paper to the boards and the Styrofoam cores.
    • Hot glue - I used this stronger glue to hold the cupcake holder together, i.e. to stick and hold the cake boards and the foams together.

    🧾Substitution and variations

    • Cake boards - you can make these yourself if you prefer with corrugated cardboard. Here is the full tutorial on how to make the cake boards.
    • Styrofoam cylinder blocks - if you cannot find these, an easy substitute would be the food cans (like soup cans) you have at home. You can even use the ones which are unopened as those will also help to keep the cake holder stable with their weight. All you need to do is wrap the tins or cans as you would with the styrofoam blocks as shown in the tutorial below before using.

    ✂️How to Make

    Step 1: Wrap the cake boards

    Cake board on a piece of paper.

    Wrap each of the cake boards, one by one. Place each on the reserve side of your wrapping paper.

    Draw an outline around the boards. And then another outline that is one inch larger than the cake board. 

    A cake board on a piece of round paper with the edges cut in intervals of about 1 inch.

    Cut the wrapping paper following the larger circle outline.

    Next, make short snips all around the cut outs. Make sure the cuts do not go beyond the inner outline.

    And then apply glue all around the edges of the cake board and wrap the paper around it.

    Cake board wrapper in silver paper.

    You will need to overlap some parts of the wrapping paper folds on the cake board.

    Wrap as neatly as possible.

    A cake board wrapped in silver paper.

    And this was how the board should look like on the front side once wrapping is complete.

    3 cake boards wrapped in silver paper for the DIY cupcake holder.

    Wrap the remaining 2 cake board in the same way.

    Step 2: Wrap the styrofoam blocks

    Using a ruler to measure the height of a styrofoam block.

    Next are the center foam cores. To wrap these, measure the height of each block.

    The ones I used here were 3.75 inches high. 

    Applying glue to a piece of cut paper.

    Cut out a long strip of red paper with a width that equals the height of the foam plus extra 1 inch allowance on both sides.

    And then cut short snips on both sides of the paper strip before applying paper glue all over it (including the snipped sections). 

    A styrofoam cylinder on a piece of long paper.

    To wrap the foam, place it in the center on the paper strip and make sure there is enough allowance on both ends.

    Red paper wrapped around a styrofoam cylinder

    And then wrap the paper tightly around the sides of the foam core.

    Red paper wrapped around a styrofoam cylinder

    Fold and glue the sides in the exact same way as the cake boards.

    2 styrofoam cylinders wrapped in red shiny paper for a 3 tier cupcake holder.

    This was how both the core foams for the cupcake holder looked like after the wrapping process was completed.  

    Step 3: Assemble the tiered DIY cupcake holder

    A red cylinder styrofoam block on a piece of round silver cake board.

    To assemble, start with the largest cake board as the base for the cupcake holder.

    Use hot glue to stick the first foam core right in the center of the board. 

    A red cylinder block of styrofoam wrapped in red paper, in between 2 silver cake boards.

    And then attach the second largest cake board on the foam core also with hot glue. 

    3 silver cake boards with 2 cylinder blocks of red paper wrapped foam blocks in between to form a DIY cupcake holder.

    Repeat the process for the next foam core and the top most cake board.

    A 3 tier cupcake holder in silver and red.

    To make sure all the components stick securely to each other, place a heavy book on the cupcake holder and leave it there for about 30 minutes. And that completes the project.

    Hope you enjoyed this easy DIY cupcake holder tutorial and find it useful. You can use this same technique to create multiple tiered DIY cupcake towers.

    💡Expert tips

    • Use a cake drum for the base board as it will be much more stable and prevent your holder from falling when the cupcakes are not placed in a balanced position, all around the holder.
    • Use the same technique to create multi tier DIY cupcake tower for birthdays and weddings. When making tall towers, you can opt to use two or three layers of the same sized cake boards for the tiers.
    • When choosing the size of the cake boards and the styrofoam block, make sure there is sufficient space to fit your cupcakes. Measure the diameter of your cupcake liners and make sure they are able to fit on the cake board.
    • Customize the color the decoration to suit your party theme. There are many ways you can decorate these cupcake stands further. And you can find many interesting deco items in your local craft supplies store or dollar store.
    • Instead of plain colored paper, you can use scrapbook paper to wrap or decorate the cake boards. You can further wrap each of the cake board layers with plastic wrap. You can even give the cake board a simple wrap with parchment paper.
    • Tie a piece of ribbon along the edges of the cake boards to create a border-like effect and secure them in place with hot glue sticks (hot glue gun).
    • The cake board can be replaced with cardboard cake circle and you can wrap them with aluminum foil if preferred.
    • Use spray paint to paint the cake boards and the styrofoam core in your party theme colors to suit the party decorations instead of wrapping them with paper.

    💭 FAQs

    Can you reuse the cupcake holder?

    Yes, you can. The holder can be reused many times.

    What else can you use the cupcake holder for other than cupcakes?

    Instead of using this stand only for cupcakes, you can also use it for ice cream cone cupcakes, or muffins or other party treats.

    ❤️More tutorials you will love❤️

    • A cupcake in a black and white damask pattern wrapper.
      DIY Cupcake Wrapper Template (How to Make)
    • A pineapple with some of its skin being cut off with a knife
      How to Cut a Pineapple without Waste
    • Fondant rainbow on the side of a light blue fondant covered cake.
      Fondant Rainbow (How to Make)
    • 3D fondant letters in a cake board, painted in gold.
      3D Fondant Letters for Cake Decorating

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi there!

    I'm Priya, and I'm so excited that you dropped by 🙂 Welcome to DECORATED TREATS, a place where I share all my cake decorating ideas & true and tried recipes for all things sweet.

    More about me →


    Currently Trending:

    • Light fruit cake cut into slices on a green plate.
      Moist Light Fruit Cake (the Best Ever)!
    • 3 dessert bowls of pink jelly with gold flake decoration.
      Agar Agar Jelly Recipe (How to Make)
    • Pink bars of coconut candy stacked on a plate.
      Coconut Candy Recipe (How to Make)
    • A stack of 4 green tea bars.
      Matcha Blondies (Perfectly Fudgy Green Tea Blondies)
    • A round cake on a cake board.
      Why is My Cake Wet In the Middle (and How to Avoid It)
    • A glass of milk on a brown tray with cookies on the side
      How to Make Milk with Milk Powder

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    SUBSCRIBE TO DECORATED TREATS

    Sign up for latest recipes and tutorials!


    Thank you for joining!

    Keep watch for my latest updates in your email.

    .

    About

    • Privacy Policy & Disclaimer

    Resources

    • Conversion Chart
    • Testimonials
    • Contact Me

    Decorated Treats is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Decorated Treats also contains other affiliate links, which if you purchase from may earn me a small commission. The full disclosure policy can be found here.

    Copyright © 2024 Decorated Treats

    A 3 tier red and silver cupcake holder with empty muffin cups.