Mini Dog Birthday Cake
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What better way to celebrate your pup’s special day than with this Mini Dog Birthday Cake?! Complete with peanut butter and cheese and over 87 five star ratings, it’s sure to please!
This mini dog birthday cake is a huge hit, because dogs deserve cake on their birthday! My baby turns TWO today—like, how? I figured she deserved a dog birthday cake this year. Though my personal favorite cake is my chocolate vegan birthday cake, it’s not exactly dog-friendly, so I figured I should make a separate recipe for Layla.
I’m completely biased, but Layla is simply the best. She keeps me company all day every day while I work from home, she has an adorable underbite, she increases my daily step count thanks to having to walk her, and she brings so much joy into my life.
Oh, and if your pup loves this recipe, be sure to check out my pumpkin dog cake, too, along with other dessert recipes.
Recipe features
- This recipe has 85 five star ratings and counting!
- It’s made with peanut butter, pumpkin and topped with cheese — all of your dog’s favorite foods
- It’s easy to make, and is shareable too
Ingredient notes
Like most dogs, Layla’s a big fan of pumpkin and peanut butter, so I knew I needed to include those things. This dog birthday cake is quite similar to a human cake but with less sugar.
- all purpose flour
- coconut oil – or any kind of oil
- egg
- honey – or sub maple syrup
- canned pumpkin
- applesauce
- peanut butter
- yogurt
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl, stir the flour and baking soda together and set aside.
Step 2: Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the oil, eggs, pumpkin, peanut butter, and honey. Then, combine the wet and dry ingredients.
Step 3: Bake. Divide the batter into two greased 4″ cake pans, then bake the cakes for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick is clean. Wait for the cakes to come to room temperature before icing them.
Tips
Substitutions:
- Flour: This recipe calls for all purpose flour, but you could also use whole wheat flour. I haven’t tried it with any sort of gluten free flour before, but again, I’m going to assume a gluten free all purpose flour would work well if your dog eats a grain-free diet.
- Oil: Coconut oil tends to be my oil of choice, but it can also be on the pricey side. Canola oil works just fine and I promise your dog won’t know the difference 😉
- Yogurt: The icing for this cake is made with Greek yogurt and peanut butter. If your dog doesn’t like yogurt and/or if you’re worried about it upsetting their stomach (it shouldn’t!), you could try using just peanut butter. It’ll be stickier, but still tasty.
Questions? TONS of people have made this recipe, so be sure to read the comments for additional tips!
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!
More pumpkin recipes
Want even more dog cake recipes? This article from Play Bark Run has a great list of dog-friendly cake recipes.
If you made this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and star rating below. Thanks!
Mini Dog Birthday Cake
Video
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
for the 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
Nutrition
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
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
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,
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 ?
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. 🙂
Yes!! I can’t wait until you get a dog too–they’re just the best.