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Easy Doggy Birthday Cake Recipe

Yesterday we celebrated Lola’s 11th Birthday! I can’t believe she’s been on this Earth for 11 years. She is definitely smarter than all of us and is unquestionably the best dog ever (sorry Lucy, you have a little work to do!). Of course, Lola deserved her very own birthday cake.

This is an easy doggy birthday cake recipe that you can whip up and let your dog destroy to celebrate their big day. It would work great for gotcha day celebrations, too! I originally found the recipe on Pinterest and altered it a little bit, plus switched up the icing.

Update: I can’t believe it’s been years since I first made this cake! Although sweet Lola is no longer here, I still make it as a special treat for Lucy and Burt.

Senior Dog Birthday Cake
Easy Dog Birthday Cake Recipe

Ingredients:
1  banana, mashed
1 heaping spoonful of natural peanut butter (get this one! it has no sugar, salt or xylitol)
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (we like this one)
1 tsp baking powder
splash of water as needed
cream cheese for the frosting
food coloring (optional, this is a nice natural one)
treats for decoration (fun shapes like these will look cute!)

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.

Combine wet ingredients in another small bowl and mix well. Gradually add the dry ingredients to this bowl, mixing well each time you add.

If your mixture feels a little too dry, add water as needed to get a cake batter consistency. It should be slightly runny.

Pour the mixture into a round nonstick cake pan like this one (or you could make cupcakes).

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from pan.

For the frosting: Combine a heaping spoonful of cream cheese with food coloring in your dog’s favorite color. Spoon the mixture into a plastic bag and cut off the tip of one corner. You can use that to pipe on a pretty design. Decorate with treats, then get your camera ready!

Get a dozen more printable recipes and DIY ideas for dog moms when you click below!

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Dog Birthday Cake Recipe

How to Decorate a Doggy Cake

I chose to make a big number 11 since we’re so excited to celebrate our senior girl! I used cute shaped pumpkin treats as decoration and stuck them on with my cream cheese frosting. It’s super easy to decorate if you put your frosting in a zip lock back and just snip off a corner, you don’t need a fancy piping bag. Just take your time doing the design. And remember – this is for a dog! They will love it no matter what it looks like!

Dog Birthday Cake Recipe

Dog Birthday Cake Recipe

Chocolate Lab licking birthday cake

How Much Doggy Cake Can My Dog Have?

I tried to get a photo of Lola and Lucy chowing down, but the cake literally disappeared! I started out by giving them each a slice, then they just devoured the entire cake! Since the two of them split it and they each weigh about 60 or 70 pounds, I thought it was OK for a special treat.

That’s why I make sure to use the healthiest ingredients that I can find. For this recipe, I think the most important thing is to read the label on the peanut butter that you’re using. Make sure it has no xylitol at all and ideally, no added salt or sugar. This one from the 365 brand at Whole Foods fits the bill – and you can get it from Amazon Pantry. Couldn’t be easier!

If you have a smaller dog, or no one to share the cake with, I recommend sticking to just one slice per day. Remember that treats should really only comprise 10% of your dog’s daily diet.

Chocolate Lab licking birthday cake

Chocolate Lab licking birthday cake

Do you celebrate your dog’s birthday?

This was my first time making a cake (Special thanks to Meals & Moves for the recipe inspiration), since then I’ve made special treats for Lucy’s birthday! We even did a really fun styled dog birthday photoshoot in the park with our friend Jenny Karlsson.

Love this post? You should also check out these:

Three Pumpkin Dog Treat Recipes
Dog Treat Recipe + DIY Doggy Bag
Ice Cream Sandwich for Dogs

22 Comments

  1. Laika

    That cake sure looks yummi. Hope my mom will make me one at my birthday in june. (I think she will) Have a great day.

    Reply
  2. Danielle

    This is so cute! My chihuahua will be 9 in a couple months and I think I will make this cake for her.
    Thanks for the idea and happy birthday Lola!

    Danielle
    Smitten with Sunday

    Reply
    • Tori

      Share some photos when you bake your cake! Our senior doggies deserve some extra special treats every now and then!

      Reply
  3. jackie

    awww happy birthday lola! you’re so sweet baking her a cake. i’m lazy with my dogs’ bdays. I usually just get them an extra toy/treat. they’re pretty happy with that haha.

    Reply
    • Tori

      She LOVED the cake, but would have been just as happy with a peanut butter kong. That’s the great thing about dogs, they are easy to please!

      Reply
  4. Sarah

    Oh my goodness, how stinkin precious!! Happy birthday to your girl!!

    Reply
    • Tori

      Thank you! And thanks for stopping by!

      Reply
  5. Golden Woofs: Sugar

    Happy Happy 11th Barkday! What a DELISH! cake. Secret ingredient is the BANANNA. What a FUN Barkday celebration. PAWsome job on the cake. Golden Woofs!

    Reply
    • Tori

      Thank you Sugar! The cake was GOLDEN delicious and disappeared in 2 minutes!

      Reply
  6. Nailah Bone

    What a sweet thing. Happy bday Lola! 🙂 I bake for Niles all the time and am planning on having a big bday party for her 9th birthday this May! By the way, your cake is lovely!

    Reply
  7. M. K. Clinton

    Happy 11th Birthday Lola!! Your cake looks delicious! I will have to make one for my boys! I love, love, love your Sweetcaptcha! How did you get that? Do you know if it works on Blogger?

    Reply
    • Tori

      Hi MK – thanks for stopping by! Don’t you love my Captcha! I’ve never seen it anywhere else. I just searched around in the Plugins, you can probably search for “Sweet Captcha” and find it!

      Reply
  8. Miss Harper Lee

    A belated happy 11th birthday, Lola, and what a fabulous cake! We’ve been looking for doggy birthday cake recipes and just haven’t found one we really like . . . until now. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe and the fun, fun pictures!

    Reply
    • Tori

      This recipe is SO simple! You probably have most of it in your kitchen already, that is the key to success for me. If I have to go to the store I will never make it!

      Reply
  9. Julia

    Happy birthday, Lola! The cake turned out so cute! Also, awesome job on the pictures! I’m sure there was only a 2.5-second window to capture pictures with the cake still in tact, so great work!

    Reply
    • Tori

      There were about 1.5 seconds to get the shot! That’s why I don’t have more of them digging it. One second the cake was there, then it was gone. They are magician labs apparently!

      Reply
  10. gabby

    omg, that face. eee! happy 11th birthday lola! the cake you made looks fantastic. i’ve made dog treats once, but never a doggy cake. i don’t actually know when benji’s birthday is because he is a rescue.

    xo,
    gabby
    http://www.likealittlefox.blogspot.com

    Reply
    • Tori

      It’s as easy as making banana bread! And it doesn’t have to be for a birthday, you could just celebrate Benji being awesome! : )

      Reply
  11. Sarcastic Dog

    I love Lola’s white eyebrows!! That looks delicious. I love that you shared a banana recipe in honor of Sugar 🙂

    Reply
    • Tori

      Lola was a big banana fan… from one senior girl to another, sending so many chocolate woofs to Sugar!

      Reply
  12. Dawn E Dodgen

    Oh, God bless you, for sharing this recipe. I can’t wait to make it for my crew. (I look around my living room as I’m writing this and all I can see are my sleeping dogs, bellies full, safe and soundly resting.)

    TAKE A STAND AGAINST ANIMAL ABUSE & NEGLECT!
    We Are Their oice!

    ADOPT A PET

    Reply
    • Tori

      It’s a great recipe, easy, healthy and delicious! Enjoy!

      Reply

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Tori Mistick Labrador Dog Mom Blog

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Tori Mistick is a blogger, podcaster and certified Canine Enrichment Specialist. You might call her a professional dog mom! Tori has a soft spot for senior dogs and loves the color pink. Based in Pittsburgh, PA.

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