Home » Dog Care » 4 Easy Dog Cake Recipes

Here’s a fun fact – dog cake recipes are researched as much as human cake recipes!  Homemade dog cakes are becoming more and more popular. We all love our dogs and cakes are made or given for the same reason that people have cakes, to celebrate special occasions.  Whether it’s for birthdays, obedience school graduations, competition achievements, having a new litter, or something else, we like to mark the occasion with a cake.  However, you shouldn’t use the same ingredients as a human cake as there are a few things you need to keep in mind when baking a dog cake.

Ingredients To Avoid in Dog Cake Recipes

Before we share with you some fun dog cake recipes, let’s start with what ingredients to avoid as well as what you can use as a substitution. Sugar and salt are to be avoided at all costs.  They simply don’t belong in a dog’s diet and aren’t needed.

Sugar, Sugar Alternative, and the Substitution

Sugar, in particular, is hard on dogs as their digestive system is that of a carnivore (meat eater) and their stomachs aren’t geared up for digesting sweet things.  If a dog cake recipe does list sugar, then honey can be used as a substitute as it’s far easier for dogs to digest.  Definitely don’t use any artificial sweeteners as they could be dangerous to dogs, especially Xylitol – it is toxic.

Salt

Too much salt is simply not good for dogs and can lead to serious health issues including death.  Although dogs do need salt in their diet, it’s usually already added to their dog food (mostly listed as sodium) so dog treats shouldn’t contain additional salt/sodium.  For more information on the dangers of too much salt

Sea kelp can be used as a substitution for salt as it has many additional nutrients besides natural salt.

Yeast

Yeast is another ingredient to avoid using in dog cake recipes.  Again, this is harmful to dogs and baking powder has enough rising agents to perform the task so can be used instead of yeast.

Chocolate

Lastly, we can’t talk about dog cakes and ingredients to avoid without mentioning chocolate.  Chocolate is a big hit for human cakes but a big no-no for dogs, luckily carob can be used instead.  In fact, there are many ingredients that can be used that dogs love to eat, such as bananas, peanut butter, carrots, sweet potatoes, maple syrup, cinnamon to name but a few.

What Size Dog Cake

When following a homemade dog cake recipe, remember that you and your family will not be eating it, this cake is for the dog or dogs!  If it’s only going to be eaten by one dog, make a small cake (8 inches or less) or better yet, make it as cupcakes and freeze the rest.  You can always get some really cute decorations for cupcakes as below:

If its for multiple dogs, then you can go as big as you like.  Remember, it doesn’t have to be elaborate; your dog will love whatever you place in front of them.  Make the serving of cake a fun time for everyone and remember to take photos – probably quickly before it’s gone! If you keep your dogs health in mind, then making a homemade dog cake will please everyone involved.  Although a cake shouldn’t replace a meal for the day, recognizing the nutritional requirements of your dog is still important.

4 Dog Cake Recipes

Like us, our fur babies deserve a treat from time to time, especially when it’s their birthday.  You could go all out and host a doggie party for your pooch but you don’t have to do too much to make their day special.

Let’s face it, all most dogs want is to spend time with us and possibly some tasty treats.  So this year why not make your dog’s birthday an eventful one with these easy cake recipes for dogs.  And, if you want to make your cake super special, then read these 5 tips on how to get the most out of any dog cake recipe.

Dog Pancakes

(This recipe makes 5 small sized dog pancakes)

Ingredients:

• 6grams all-purpose flour
• 100ml water or goats milk (adding more as needed)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure coconut oil (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl, and let stand for 30 minutes.
2. Using a small non-stick pan, make the pancakes – the same way as you would for human ones. (I didn’t need to use oil for this, but if it is needed add a tiny amount of olive oil)
3. Give the pancake a flip, and away you go.

You can try many different fillings. Here are a few to get you started:

– Cottage cheese and chopped spinach

– Peanut butter and banana

Sweet Potato & Maple Syrup Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato (cooked and mashed)
• 2 cups of water
• 1/8 Tbѕ vanilla
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• ½ Tbѕ baking powder
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tbs Honey
• ½ cup Maple Syrup

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350- degrees
2. Grease an 8-inch cake tin with spray oil
3. In a mixing bowl sweet potato, water, vanilla, egg, honey, and maple syrup
4. Add the dry ingredients and mix well
5. Pour mixture into a sprayed 8-inch pan and place in the oven
6. Bake for 1 hour and 15 mins until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean
7. Remove cake from pan and let cool

Dog Cake Frosting Recipe

Ingredients:

• 12 оz softened low fat cream cheese
• 3 tbs cinnamon
• 1 tbѕ vanilla
• 2 tbs maple syrup

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in bowl
2. Mix or beat ingredients until soft
3. Use a spoon or frosting gun to apply frosting to top of cake
4. Serve to a happy dog

Honey-Coco Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons refined coconut oil, melted
• 2 tablespoons honey
• Plain yogurt (for frosting)
• Blueberries (for topping)
• Cinnamon (for topping)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F
2. Grease cake pan
3. Whisk together eggs, coconut oil, and honey
4. Slowly add flour to the mixture until well-blended with the rest
5. Transfer mixture to greased pan or cupcake molds
6. Bake for 15 -20 mins
7. Cool complete
8. Apply yogurt as frosting
9. Sprinkle with cinnamon & top with blueberries

Pooch Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 2/3 cups pure pumpkin puree (never use pumpkin pie mix)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup peanut butter (natural or low sugar)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Frosting:

• 2/3 cups pumpkin puree
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese

Directions:

Cake:

1. Grease and flour round loaf pan
2. Pre-heat oven to (350F)
3. Whisk together in bowl; egg, flour, pumpkin puree, water, peanut butter, and vegetable oil.
4. Pour batter into loaf pan
5. Bake in the oven for 15 – 20 mins
6. Let cool completely while you mix the frosting

Frosting:

1. Mix pumpkin puree and cream cheese in a bowl
2. Decorate the cake with frosting when cooled

Triple Apple Doggie Birthday Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup dried apple rings, finely diced
• 1/4 cup peeled and finely diced Granny Smith apples
• 1/8 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F
2. Grease round pan
3. In a bowl, combine flour, cinnamon and baking soda
4. Add dried apple rings and coat with a mixture
5. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, applesauce, fresh apples and milk
6. Mix wet and dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined into a batter mix
7. Place batter in greased pan or scoop into cups
8. Bakin oven for 10 mins
9. Cool completely before serving

Pre-Mixed Dog Cake Recipes

If all this sounds like too much work, you can always buy a pre-mixed cake mix and still have a homemade dog cake for your pooch.  It’ll still be delicious and he/she won’t know you cheated a bit!  All you need to do is add egg, oil and water.

Dog Cake Recipes – The Choices

So, as you can see, the choices for which recipe to choose for your dog’s birthday, graduation, achievement, litter, congratulations or just to say….I love you with cake, are many.  Whether you choose a dog cake with peanut butter, sweet potato, apples or pumpkin, I’m sure he or she will love it.  Just remember which ingredients to avoid and the substitutions you can use instead.

Also, any of these recipes can be altered to include something you know your dog already loves; such as meat, bananas, or carrots.  Simply change one of the ingredients for something else and you’ll have a dog cake your pooch will devour!

And finally, if you want to make it yourself but don’t want to measure and choose different ingredients, you can always buy a pre-mixed dog cake mix and make that instead.