Carrot Peanut Butter Doggo Cake

 

It’s that time again!  Big birthday celebrations for the birthday boys over here!   My annual Peach Pie for Mike is forthwith as after all, it is the Month of Mike.  And this year, Finn, the gigantic fluffernutter, received his very own cake!  Man, are they lucky or what?

So I know, this particular carrot peanut butter dog cake recipe might not be for everyone reading but surely you know someone who has a pooch!

When it comes to feeding a Finn, it seems his allergies, the list of items he can no longer eat continues to grow.  I wasn’t understanding this. 

Back in October or so I inadvertently made things worse for him and boy did I feel lousy.  Ya know, as his mom it’s my responsibility to keep him healthy and fed right.  Well, I goofed. 

He was enough of a mess, thanks to me ugh, that we took him to the vet.  That was an extreme step for us as his people- and other-animal-hating ways makes life quite tricky for us.  Taking him to the vet (a person) (and a scary place) with dogs and/or cats in the waiting room (raaawwrrr!) is a monster challenge.  Rescue Remedy,* trazodone, plus treats, pets, comfort, and kind words are all useless. 

Henceforth, we don’t go to the vet very often.  It’s incredibly taxing for everyone involved. 

Whacked out fur, dandruff, chewy, his ears incessantly itchy and icky, red yucky sores busting out all over his tummy and chest….I can’t tell you how horrible I felt.  We ended up with some great stuff for those itchy ears and a prescription for Apoquel. 

The vet, to me, one we hadn’t seen in this practice before, seemed dismissive and annoyed that we rarely bring him in and was more reactive than proactive.  Mike thought she was fine, so, I dunno.  

Anyway, long story short, I wasn’t excited at the Apoquel (which FYI, I highly recommend Pet Rescue Rx for your pet’s medicine needs [no longer selling medicines, boo]. Their pricing beats anyone and they donate their profits to rescues. Great company all around.) because in reading about that allergy pill, it sounded terrifying. 

I gave Finny boy the pills for about a month and a half but noted it wasn’t fixing any of his issues. I mean, it did help his general airborne ones a bit but not the itchy ears, flaky skin, his pink nose, nor the awful sores. 

So.  Great.  What is going on here?

I read up some more.  I know, it’s not advised to do your own research, you should always always consult with a vet, but I didn’t want to bring him back there (it’s seriously an exhausting day’s event) nor did I feel the vet was interested in helping us fully understand Finn’s issues.  I’ve asked about his sores before and about the semi-regular-ish uh, tossing his cookies. To no avail.  Three different vet doctors. 

So in reading up about his tummy sores, it was sounding like poor Finnster has a yeast predicament.  This was making sense to me.  

I stopped the Apoquel, we washed him in three different shampoos,* and I found the lowest carb food we could reasonably afford that also didn’t have ingredients that he’s allergic to nor that I wanted him consuming (uh that makes nearly everything now). Let’s talk a stressful challenge, my goodness, jeez louise.  I start with Dog Food Advisor for this type of research, fyi.

Finnmeister still gets an occasional tummy sore and his giant schnoz is still a bit pink but he’s in much better shape now.  He doesn’t run as warm to the touch, his ears don’t get as yucky, he’s not itchy, his uh cookie tossing has become rarer, and his fur is nice.  Whew. 

What a saga, and I ain’t jokin’.  Man, he really hit the lucky dog jackpot with us. 

And luckier for his birthday!  It’s tough to find doggie birthday cake recipes that are allergy-free or don’t include things he can’t eat.  But, voila, found this carrot peanut butter one from food.com to celebrate the happy seven!

The only glitch in this is the pan size, six inches,* which may not be in your pan collection.  But, if it is or you can borrow from a friend, bonanza, yay!  If you’d like to make this recipe without a six inch pan, please consult one of the converters in our right sidebar or maybe use a muffin tin instead, keeping an eye on time. 

Because the cake itself is small and Finn would only be getting a small slice per day, I was ok with using all whole wheat flour instead of mixing in part oat flour. 

In a medium bowl, mix up the wet ingredients until they’re nicely combined.  Make sure the peanut butter you’re using does not contain xylitol as it’s toxic to dogs.

It can’t get much more uncomplicated than this!  That’s it, so few ingredients!

Toss in the carrots, mix that up well.

Yeah I know, it’s a lot of carrot shreds. If it’s too much, try half of another dog-friendly vegetable in combination.

Toss in the dry ingredients, stir that nicely and it’s as simple as that!

Add in the dry and bam, good to go!

I very lightly greased the pan with cooking spray and for decoration, as I wasn’t going to frost his cake, too messy for a sloppy 100 lb. wrecking ball, I dotted some frozen blueberries atop drawing out a big number seven.  You’re definitely welcome to schmear it with a doggie safe frosting though.

hahaha, as if Finny can read!

And it was adorable coming out of the oven!   Ack it was so cute! 

So cute!!  I even danced over to Mike, “look how cute, babe!”  I got a combo ‘yeah it’s cute and yeah you’re crazy’ glance back.

Finn’s so funny, he’s still eating-off-plates averse which ultimately is good but he’s still also eating-large-chunks-of-things averse is well.  After a buoyant rendition of the birthday song, I know, we’re dorks, I crumbled up his slice into bite-size pieces, turned to go get our dessert, and poof, his slice was gone.

Yeah c’mon, it’s cute!

Winner!

I got a kiss after he ate it so I know it was all dew claws up!

Happy birthday to my July boys, Finn and Mike!

Or wait.  Maybe he can read….uh….

Note:  This content originally appeared on Flaky Bakers.

Carrot Peanut Butter Doggo Cake

Yield

8

Prep time

10 Min

Cook time

40 Min

Total time

50 Min

This easy-to-make cake is bursting with healthy carrots and tasty peanut butter, a terrific way to celebrate your doggo!

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup (68 g) peanut butter
• 1/4 cup (59 ml) canola oil
• 1/3 cup (79 ml) honey
• 1 cup (99 g) carrot, shredded
• 1 cup (113 g) whole wheat flour (or all-purpose, 120 g)
• 1 teaspoon (6 g) baking soda

Instructions

1. Begin by preheating the oven to 350° F (176° C). Lightly spray a 6 inch cake pan with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, stir up the wet ingredients well, the egg, peanut butter, oil, and honey until well mixed.
3. Add in the shredded carrots and stir everything together.
4. Add in the flour and baking soda, folding gently until just combined.
5. Pour the cake batter into the pan and bake for about 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes then remove it from the pan to cool on a rack.

Notes:

Adapted from Arik Ross on Food.com

Nutrition Facts

Calories

216.90

Fat (grams)

11.81

Sat. Fat (grams)

1.53

Carbs (grams)

25.90

Fiber (grams)

2.68

Net carbs

23.22

Sugar (grams)

12.76

Protein (grams)

4.73

Sodium (milligrams)

216.74

Cholesterol (grams)

23.25

Please see the "info" section for nutrition details and information about gram weights.

These are people calories, fyi.

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*The pet Rescue Remedy, yeast controlling shampoos for dogs, and the six inch baking pans are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.