A dog cake recipe to celebrate Dozer’s birthday!! A 2 layer cake frosted with fluffy “buttercream” ….. but it’s made with wholesome pooch friendly ingredients!
Aren’t you just dying to know how I made that frosting?? 😜
(Looking for Pupcakes? Here it is!)
Dog cake for Dozer’s birthday!
“That frosting tastes a bit odd,” grumbled the husband of Dozer’s boarder. Can you just imagine the pleasure she got out of telling him he’d just eaten a DOG cake??😂
“Serves him right for helping himself to anything that looks tasty” she smirked when she told me. I was laughing so hard at the vision, I actually snorted.
Who can blame him?? The whole point of creating this cake was to make it look like a real birthday cake piled high with fluffy buttercream frosting – but with dog friendly ingredients.
So it tastes nothing like what it looks like – it’s a total spin out!!
OK OK I know you’re busting to know how I made the cake look so “real” so I won’t keep you in suspense any longer! Here’s the rundown:
- Healthy dog sponge cake – it’s like a very healthy carrot cake, very low fat, sugar free
- Fluffy whipped potato “frosting” – looks just like buttercream, but it’s pooch friendly! While we humans wouldn’t put potato frosting on a cake, our pooches won’t complain!😂 Don’t fall for pretty looking cakes piled high with cream cheese or other high fat or high dairy frosting. Bad for dogs!
🐾 Healthy dog sponge cake🐾
This is a healthy dog friendly version of carrot cake. It’s a moist sponge that’s very simple to make – dump and mix job – and all the ingredients are either good for dogs, or fine for dogs to eat in moderation. I’ve provided some nutrition commentary on each ingredient in the recipe below.
(PS I hope you didn’t miss that I said this is a moist sponge. Just because it’s a dog cake, doesn’t mean we should let our standards slip! 😂)
🐾 Dog friendly fluffy frosting 🐾
Made with fluffy whipped mashed potato! OK, so it’s not something you’d put on a cake for humans – but this is for dogs remember!
I wanted a frosting that was dog friendly that looked just like vanilla buttercream so I could use it for sandwiching layers, frosting and piping. Most dog cake frosting recipes I found use yogurt and peanut butter which is too soft and also, too much of either of those ingredients is not good for dogs.
Solution: whipped mashed potato!! 🤣 I got the idea from Meatloaf Cupcakes that I shared years ago where I piped on mashed potato swirls.
I use yogurt to give it a creamy soft “buttercream frosting” consistency because yogurt has probiotics in it which is good for dogs. But water works just as well!
Look how well it works as frosting for the cake! It’s looks almost impossibly similar to real buttercream frosting!
🎉Dozer’s birthday party!🎉
A cake this good (and big 😳) is made to be shared. And what better way to share it than at an impromptu birthday party down at the beach??
It was, as one might expect, total chaos, and my vision of an adorable photo of all the dogs wearing party hats sitting patiently behind the cake just didn’t happen. (That was total wishful thinking on my part 😂)
Hats were swiped off within seconds of putting them on – hence why you only see photos of 1 dog at a time wearing a hat 😂, the swarm of wet, sandy golden retrievers around the cake was such a hazard at one point I actually had to pick the cake up and run away!
As for the birthday boy, the cheeky bugger tried to get stuck into the cake before it was even served!!
But suffice to say, it was his idea of a perfect birthday. Beach, all his best mates, a big fat cake. What more can a dog ask for??
Actually, the only thing different between this day and every other day in Dozer’s life was the presence of cake. 😂
Happy birthday Dozer! 🎊🎉 Another year older, though not wiser. But I wouldn’t change a thing about you – I love you just the way you are! ~ Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Dog cake recipe - with dog friendly fluffy frosting!
Ingredients
Dog birthday cake:
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup (120g) peanut butter (spread or pure)
- 1/4 cup (65ml) oil (canola, vegetable)
- 2/3 cup (165ml) milk (or water)
- 1/3 cup (100g) honey or maple syrup (or apple sauce or skip it)
- 2 1/2 cups shredded carrot (2 large)
- 2 cups (300g) whole wheat / wholemeal flour (or white flour)
- 2.5 tsp baking soda
Dog Friendly Fluffy Frosting (Whipped Potato Yogurt):
- 600 - 700g / 1.2 - 1.4lb potatoes , peeled, cut into chunks
- 3/4 - 1 cup yogurt (plain unsweetened) or water
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (160C fan).
- Grease and line the base of 2 x 20cm/8" cake pans.
- Whisk together eggs, peanut butter, oil, honey and milk (little peanut butter lumps ok).
- Stir in carrots. Then add flour and baking soda, stir until just combined (over mixing = hard cake = sad birthday pooch).
- Divide batter between the cake pans, spread and smooth surface.
- Bake 25 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Cool on racks. Frost per below.
Doggie Fluffy Frosting:
- Boil, steam or microwave potato until very soft.
- Whip potato and yoghurt with an electric beater until fluffy and smooth as possible (won't go 100% smooth) - about 1 1/2 minutes on medium speed (speed 5).
- Use water as needed to loosen frosting to soft spreadable consistency (like human buttercream frosting!). Use while warm (it "sets" when it cools).
Frost:
- Spread 1/4 frosting on one cake.
- Top with other cake. Frost tops and sides with remaining frosting, reserving some to pipe decorations if desired (3/4 cup frosting).
Recipe Notes:
- Eggs - good source of protein for dogs
- Peanut butter - "treat" element, dogs are mad for peanut butter! Gives the cake an irresistible peanut butter smell, 2.5 tsp per slice
- Oil - very small amount used, about 1/2 tsp per slice
- Milk - if you're concerned about your dog consuming dairy, sub with water. Works out at 1.5 tsp per serve, and also remember it's cooked!
- Honey - For a touch of sweetness, 3/4 tsp per slice. Can skip if you want.
- Carrot - carrot is good for dogs! I hide a lot of carrot in Dozer's meals. Aso makes the sponge moist. Can sub with zucchini or sweet potato.
- Wholewheat / wholemeal flour - just like with humans, carbs are fine to consume in moderation!
- Baking soda - to make the sponge rise.
- Potato - Same as flour, cooked potato is fine to consume in moderation! It's a better, healthier option than slathering the cake with a peanut butter yogurt frosting which seems to be the default for dog cake recipes. Too much yogurt or peanut butter is not good for our pooches (whether commercial sweetened spread or even pure unsweetened peanut butter, it's very high in fat. Some yogurt is good for dogs but not vast quantities)
- Yogurt - probiotics in yogurt is good for dogs digestive system, just like with humans! If your dog is sensitive to dairy, just use water.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Just because this whole post is for Dozer, that’s no excuse to break tradition by excluding the Life of Dozer section!!!
So here he is, starring in his first recipe video. Shooting with Dozer IN the video was somewhat of a challenge…… if he had his way, he’d have eaten the batter raw!! 😂
Cooked up very well and my family thought it was for them. I used instant potatoes with the yoghurt for the icing, probably would use 2 packets next time but it still looks good. Birthday boy is salivating.
Thanks for the recipe! I made a small batch for my cavoodle. He couldn’t keep his mouth away from it til the very last bite 🙂
Omg. Nagi! I love this video. I am going to spread this around to my friends. We are all animal lovers. Esp. Dogs. I cannot wait to try this. Maybe tomorrow? Dozer is a star! He does shine!
Made this vegan for my dogs birthday by using flax eggs and soy milk. Dogs not vegan but the rest of us are. Was surprised how edible it was. I iced the rest of them with normal icing and used mashed potato on the dogs one. Was a hit with my 4 sons.
I’m making this cake for Abbielee birthday today. She turned three years old . I will make one for Major in February.
I absolutely can’t wait for my dog to try this! She is turning 9!
I hope she has a great Birthday Susana!! N x
I tried it and my dog digests ok and loves it- he has a little tap dances around the cake..It is his first time having a legit cake and his 10th bday
Haha I wish I could of seen it Twu!! N x
Love all the pics from Dozers birthday… I am going to try this today for
My baby’s 10th Birthday. Today Walle turns 10! Thanks for the awesome recepie.
I just finished making this (with my kids’ help) for my dog’s third birthday (tomorrow), and it looks & smells amazing. Thank you for sharing! It’s my first time trying a homemade recipe for my dog, and I followed it exactly. Perfect!!
Thankyouu
I can’t use eggs. So is it okay to use it’s substitutes? like condensed milk or flax seed powder or anything like that?
I can’t use eggs. So is it okay to use it’s substitutes? Ummm like condensed milk or flax seed powder or anything like that?
I haven’t tried it to be honest but I’m sure flaxseed will work :). N x
Can i use something else instead of peanut butter? My dog isn’t that big of a peanut butter fan 😅
Hi there, I will be baking this cake this weekend for my dog’s first Birthday. Does the wholemeal flour need to be plain or self-raising? Thanks.
Hi Laura, it’s plain here – N x
I made this for Honey Bunny’s 19th birthday.She loved it, and so did all the other doggies we had over for her birthday.Thank you for such an easy recipe.
Oh Happy Birthday!!! I hope she was spoilt ❤️ N x
Hi I made this recipe last weekend and my dog Costello Loved it!!! However the cake didn’t rise and had to turn it into a mini cake. I’m not an expert baker so do you have any tips for that?
Hi Alejandra, sorry you had issues here!! Did you definitely use 2.5 teaspoons of baking soda (not baking powder)? N x
Hi Nagi, you´re right I used baking powder 🙁 I´ll try again this weekend and see how it goes. Do have any other tips?
Hi Nagi, I have a tecnical question If I don´t use milk and honey, will the cake still rise with baking soda?
5 stars because it looks
delicious and I’m making it!! Great photos. Made my day. Thank you!
Ngai: Dozer so lucky to have such a loving mom! After a marathon of watching your videos I realized that it’s wonderful that most of your recipes are simple in preparation, most requiring no mixing bowls, special equipment,etc. Most recipe have one bowl with wooden spoon. What a pure joy it is for someone like me who likes to eat but do not like to clean up for hrs after cooking. And you are so generous with sharing your recipes and techniques. If you ever publish any cookbooks, etc, I would be first on line to purchase.
I’m so happy to see this recipe. Shall make one for my dog. He will be turning one in this August. Btw, can I substitute the peanut butter with something else? My older boy is allergic to peanut so peanut at home.
Gracie had her 1st ‘gotcha ‘ birthday!
She loved her cake and her friends had some too, everyone loved it, Isla tried it too, she loves mashed potatoes!!
Thank you nagi xx
My Mum is an amazing Cake Baker so this was pretty easy for her, and it smelt so good too!
So we were celebrating our crazy Labradoodle Jessie’s 1st Birthday and wow did she enjoy this cake!!
Mum cut her a slice off first and then sent some to her friends next door (who also ate the lot – tails wagging, tongues licking!
She had a piece a day for the next few days to finish it off too – definitely a recipe we will use again!
Thank you so much for sharing – I have some videos and photos of Jessie with cake but I can’t seem to upload on here?
I’d love to see them Clare – email them through to me!
I would like to make this tomorrow. Maybe as cupcakes? My Shiloh (black lab) turns 1! Do you think I could freeze this afterwards for a random special treat?