What better way to celebrate your pup’s special day than with this Mini Dog Birthday Cake?! Complete with peanut butter and cheese, it’s sure to please.
Um yeah, I went there. Dogs deserve cake too! My baby turns TWO today—like, how? I figured she deserved a dog birthday cake this year.
I always wanted a dog growing up, and in college, Miguel and I used to talk about getting a dog and maybe we sometimes spent every waking moment Googling dog photos. Then, Layla came into our lives and I can say with certainty that she’s all we ever wanted.
Layla/Layla Bear/Lay/Mamacita/Lil Mama/Cutes Magee/and as of late, Big Booty Judy..
Keeps me company all day long
LOVES hugs
Has never once chewed a pair of my shoes (but did chew my couch one time…)
Makes me smile at least 22 times every single day
Has the most precious underbite
Is my excuse for leaving the bar earlier than planned on Saturday nights (“guys, I gotta go, Layla’s been alone for the past 5 hours and she misses me and I want to cuddle her”)
Is super friendly to every single person she meets
Has taught me [some] patience
Is the worst guard dog ever
Brings so much joy into my life
Makes me cry on the spot when I look at her and think about the fact that she’s not going to live forever (*crying*)
OK THAT’S DEPRESSING sorry. Today we’re celebrating another year in the books. Also the fact that I’m forcing her to live forever. Yes? Yes. I figured what better way to celebrate than with a mini dog birthday cake?
A few additional fun facts about Layla:
Likes: the vet, all humans, bones, her ball, her dog bed, carpet, sticks, running, belly rubs
Dislikes: intersections, buses, loud noises, super busy streets, dogs bigger than she is, thunderstorms
Other obvious likes include pumpkin, peanut butter and cheese, so clearly those needed to be included in her cake. How are we celebrating? Coincidentally, we’re headed to my moms house for dinner tonight, so I think we’ll give her her cake then (ok, she maybe already had a bite when these photos were taken, but STILL) and I also bought her a new bone. ….super necessary, obviously.
Layla, thanks for being you. I look forward to many more years spent together with hopefully a sliiiiightly less hyper you, but for now, I will continue to spoil you with this dog birthday cake and love you for being the crazy pup you are.
This dog birthday cake is one of the most popular recipes on this site, so if you make this recipe, be sure to leave a comment or, even better, tag @thealmondeater on Instagram/Instagram stories–I LOVE seeing your creations, especially when dogs are involved!
Want another dog cake option? Check out this pumpkin cake!
PrintMini Dog Birthday Cake
Celebrate your pup’s special day with this Mini Dog Birthday Cake, complete with peanut butter AND cheese!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 1
- Category: dessert
- Method: oven
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup honey (preferably raw)
- 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Icing:
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt*
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Grease two 4″ cake pans with a bit of coconut oil and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine flour and baking soda; set aside.
- Melt coconut oil in a saucepan over low-medium heat.
- While coconut oil is melting, whisk egg, honey, pumpkin, applesauce, peanut butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Last, stir in the melted coconut oil.
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
- Pour batter evenly into the two pans, pounding them on the countertop a few times to the batter lays flat. Place the cake pans on a baking sheet and the baking sheet in the oven.
- Bake cakes for 20-30 minutes**, or until a toothpick comes out clean or mostly clean.
- Let the cakes sit in the pans for 10 minutes before running a knife along the edges and flipping them over onto a cooling rack. Wait until cakes are completely cool before icing.
- For the icing: stir yogurt and peanut butter together
- Assembly: slice the tops of both cakes off (the “dome” part) and then lay the cut edges together, placing a bit of icing in between. Top the cake with additional icing. Additionally, if you want to cover the entire cake with icing (rather than just the top and middle), just double the icing ingredients.
- Top the cake with cheese to make your pup’s special day that much better!
Notes
*Try to buy yogurt with the least amount of sugar if possible
**Cook times vary. My oven takes forever to heat up, so the cakes took about 30 minutes, but I recommend checking yours after 20 minutes.
Keywords: dog cake, dog birthday cake, mini dog cake
Make this every year for my pupper, and for my grand pup too! They love it!
Making it today, as my Max is 9 today!
I use a 7 inch pan and it works great!
Thank you for the great recipe!
Has anyone eliminated the vanilla extract as it is not good for dogs? I’ve read that vanilla itself is not harmful to dog; the alcohol in both pure and imitation vanilla extract is.
Hi! I haven’t made it but I am loving all of the good vibes!! Instead of coconut oil, can I use regular oil??? I’m baking this for my teachers dog and can’t afford to buy coconut oil for a dog that isn’t even mine lol
Sorry for this delayed response! Yes, you can use regular oil in this recipe.
My dogs shared this birthday cake. They love it! Every bite burst with happiness, it’s like the heaven opened its gates. This is so good, so thumbs up!
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Happy 3rd birthday to our baby girl Sydnee. This recipe is amazing. Thank you! I wish there was a way to post pictures here.
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Awesome recipe, Best recipe that i finally found. Thanks For sharing. Keep sharing more stuff.
Now i am goind to do something special for me Bunzoo(Dog). Will back soon with pictures of recipe. Thanks
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Super confused….Graduated from culinary school in Chicago and have over 10 years of fine restaurant experience. Moving into making something delicious and healthy for my friend’s pups, I came along this recipe. After searching for mullllltiple recipes I decided this would be a good start.
Unfortunately I have followed instructions to a T and have ended up with not a batter at all, but more of a dough. Confused how everyone in this chat ended up with a batter. There is simply too much dry ingredient to wet ingredient. Doesn’t make for a batter. Would love some insight on this. Thank you!
I just made this for my dog and ended up with a batter my baby boy loved it
For me thEre was more wet ingredients over dry
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I did not have 4″ cake pans so I doubled the recipe for a 9″ pan and had enough extra batter to make 4 pupcakes. The pupcakes turned out perfectly but my cake broke in two, not that the puppies cared. I used bulagarian yogurt so it was a bit thinner but I mixed the icing ahead of time and let it sit and thicken. My one year old puppies loved their first birthday cake and their 11 year old dog sister loved it too! Thank you for the recipe!
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The batter tastes SO good! Making it for Chuy’s 14th birthday and I’m sure he’s going to LOVE it, <3 Thank you for the recipe. I think it'll be just fine for his human pack too.
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We made this for my pups 1st Birthday. Her and my other 2 dogs literally scarfed it down. I added a tablespoon or so of honey to the frosting and of course they licked that off first, because who doesn’t love frosting :)! Thanks for the recipe!
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That’s amazing! I’m glad they all liked it, and happy 1st birthday to your pup!
Is this a soft cake or does it get hard like a dog biscuit? My dog is very old with bad teeth. He will not be able to eat if it is hard
It’s a soft cake!
Can’t believe how tasty this was, even for humans! My pup had a birthday party with her pup-cousins this year and I made this cake and some homemade doggie ice cream. Everything was gobbled up!
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I’m going to make this 4 my 3 year old boy, Opi! Can’t wait thx for the recipe!😁
Made this tonight for my boy’s first birthday! It’s tasty even for pet parents!!!
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Ha yessss!!! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it 🙂 And happy belated to your pup.
Just made this tonight for my sister’s Husky-German Shepherd pup Zelda. It was her 5th birthday and we weren’t sure if she was gonna like pumpkin but she LOVED this! We had a small pumpkin on hand and roasted that to make the purée, which ended up being enough to double the recipe. Didn’t have coconut oil so I used 1/4c more applesauce and the texture was still dense and moist. Baked it in an 8-inch pan for about 35 mins and used a round cookie cutter to cut out a nice 4-inch deep cake which Zelda DEVOURED! Glad I made a double batch, we are gonna freeze the leftovers for treats! Honestly it smelled delish, like peanut butter cookies, so next time I might make a version with salt and sugar for humans to enjoy as well ☺️Thank you for the recipe!!!
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I’m so glad Zelda loved it!!
Hi I want to make this for my dogs 12th birthday. Do I need the coconut oil or can I substitute for olive oil. This Recipe looks really fun and I can’t wait to make it! Thanks so much!
I haven’t tried it with olive oil but I imagine it would work just fine. Happy early birthday to your pup!
Hi there. Would this be good for cupcakes? Would that make he temperature and baking times different
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Made cupcakes with the recipe today. The batter was enough for 6 cupcakes and had a little batter left over. 350 for 20 minutes was perfect. Bella enjoyed this treat for her 5th birthday!!!
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Please tell me if this recipe can be doubled successfully to make a regular size one layer cake. thank you.
Hi! I think that should work out ok… it might be a tad shorter than a traditional one layer cake, but pretty close in size I’d think. Let me know how it turns out!
I am having a “sweet 16″ party for my 16 year old dog, and I want to let 3 dogs and 5 people each have a small piece of this cake. Will this recipe double nicely to make a regular size 8 to 9” one-layer cake?
thanks for your reply.
Hi there. I was just scrolling through and found this as my pups 1st birthday is coming up in December. Do you recommend giving my pup the whole thing to eat or just a slice or two for one night and then make it last for a while?
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It’s really up to you… I don’t give mine the whole thing at once because she’d probably get sick, but I imagine some dogs would be just fine. Happy early birthday to your pup!
So excited to see this. My sweet girl’s 10th birthday is tomorrow! I can’t wait to see how she reacts! And you’re not alone when you tear up thinking about how your baby won’t be here forever. You just gotta love them “to the moon and back” while they’re here. Thank you for sharing!
Ahhh dogs are just the best–happy 10th birthday to your pup! I hope she loves the cake 🙂
Hi Erin,
You are not alone when you are excited to make your pup a birthday cake… it’s the least we can do for them… for all the love they give us!!!!
I have a quick question… my baby boy’s 8th birthday is tmw :O and I wanted to make this cake the night before….do you think this will be okay if I keep in an air tight container in the fridge?? or should I wait to make the icing the morning of giving it to him?
Please let me know when you have time 🙂
Many thanks!
xox, Meg
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Hi Meg, Happy early birthday to your pup! I think you should be fine to make this cake tonight if you’re going to store it in a container. As for the icing, I’d probably make it tomorrow before you assemble the cake. I hope he loves it!
Erin thank you so much for the recipe. Our Harley will be 1 in October so I thought I’d look around for a recipe. This one sounds like a winner!
Happy early birthday to Harley! I hope your pup enjoys this cake as much as mine did 🙂
Came out perfect and my dogs loved it. I just had to bake for a total of 38 minutes.
So good to hear! Happy birthday to your pups 🙂
Hi Erin,
Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
I bake all my dog treats so I’m stoked I’ve found this cake recipe!
I use almond flour for our treats. I have one quick question about the apple sauce though. What can I replace that with? I’m only finding apple sauces with sugar or artificial sugars in. Any ideas?
Thanks a bunch,
Rosemary
Rosemary recently posted…What is the Best Pet Insurance to Get for Dogs
Hi Rosemary–you could try replacing the applesauce with a mashed banana instead. Let me know if you try the recipe!
Thanks Erin! I’ll be sure to let you know. 🙂
Rosemary recently posted…What is the Best Pet Insurance to Get for Dogs
Rosemary,
I just ran across your request about pet insurance. I realize it was a yr ago, so I don’t know if you’re still looking or not. But when I was looking, I wanted the Best 4 the least amount of money, that covered the most, w/the least of out of pocket money. But, like I’ve learned w/all the companies you have 2 pay the bill 1st then u get reimbursed. So after looking & comparing I went w/ Petplan. But understand 2, a lot of it also depends on the breed & age of your little baby 2. I realize it’s a yr later, but hope it was a little help 2 you.
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Charlie and I want to thank you for the wonderful recipe! She was in love ?
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I’m so glad your pup loved it as much as mine did 🙂
Hahah look at her licking her lips!!! So so so so cute.
Ray and I want to get a dog next year….we’re thinking German Shepherd pup.
Omg stop. German shepherds are so cute and smart–definitely a good choice in my opinion! (<--since my opinion counts and all 😉 )
I love how you did this the way people do with their babies! Happy birthday little Layla! Gaahh, I want a second dog now!
Hahah embarrassing! But thanks Kelly 🙂 Glad you appreciate it.
You forgot the #1 nickname…..MIZZ LAY!!
Happy birthday to Layla! This is so adorable – I made my dog treats recently and he devoured them, I can only imagine Layla inhaling this haha! I kind of want to eat it too…
It wasn’t too bad until I put cheese on top 😉 because you know, I had to taste test it for her…
Awwwww!! Happy 2nd birthday Layla!!! She’s adorable and I can’t wait to move in with my boyfriend so we can finally get a dog too haha! Such a perfect little cake, too. 🙂
Marina @ A Dancer’s Live-It recently posted…TOL #8: “Dear Running…” (Updated)
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Yes!! I can’t wait until you get a dog too–they’re just the best.