Pupcakes piled high with dog friendly frosting to celebrate Dozer’s 8th birthday! Easy dog cupcakes made with banana and peanut butter – the smell drives them crazy! The crowning glory is fluffy frosting made with no butter, no cream cheese, sugar free. Aren’t you dying to know the secret?? 😉
Pupcakes – dog cupcakes with fluffy frosting!
Dogs eat anything, but in my world, that’s no reason to lower the bar! So these cupcakes are everything you want in YOUR cupcakes – except they’re sugar free and made with dog friendly ingredients 😂:
Tender crumb that’s soft and fluffy
Moist, not dry – no pooch will ever choke from dry cake in MY house!
Peanut butter banana smell that dogs go crazy over
As for the frosting? The secret ingredient is potato made creamy with yogurt and sweetened with honey! Far better for dogs than using copious amounts of butter, cream cheese and icing sugar used in normal fluffy frostings.
The thought of potato frosting mightn’t appeal to US. But pooches love it!
What you need for pupcakes
Here’s what goes in these cupcakes – these are all dog friendly ingredients. It won’t upset your dogs’ stomache and you won’t have a mess to clean up on your lawn tomorrow (sorry to gross you out 😂).
Dozer ate 5 of these yesterday, and 4 the day before (many photo and video retakes!) and it didn’t affect his digestion at all.
How to make dog cupcakes
The making part is no different to making your favourite blueberry muffins – ie super duper easy. Except you might have extra unwanted “help” in the kitchen if you let your pooch get involved…. (wait until you see Dozer “helping” in the recipe video!!)
Frosting for dog cupcakes
The secret ingredient in the creamy, fluffy frosting you see on these cupcakes is potato. A proven hit used in last years’ birthday cake for Dozer’s birthday!
You’ll see plenty of dog cakes and cupcake recipes online with sky-high swirls of frosting made with loads of high fat ingredients like cream cheese and peanut butter. Looks great. Bad for dogs.
At most, you’d limit it to a smear on each cupcake – which pooches wouldn’t complain about, but lacks the wow factor visually.
So I use potato instead. Made creamy with yogurt plus water, and a touch of honey to sweeten it = perfect piping consistency, looks totally authentic and far better for dogs than cream cheese so you can use plenty.
You and I wouldn’t eat it. But your dog is going to LOVE it!
What goes in dog friendly “frosting” for Pupcakes
Here’s what you need:
How to make Pupcake frosting
The trick here is to cook the potatoes until very, very soft – literally fall apart – so when you “whip” it up with yogurt, water and honey, it will become smooth with a fluffy buttercream frosting consistency!
Looks so real, humans will eat it!!
After last years’ hilarious incident when my friends’ husband ate Dozer’s Birthday Cake because it looked so REAL (while my friend watched silently, just for the amusement of seeing his reaction 🤣), I decided I better play it safe this year and top it with dog biscuits!!!
But actually, dog biscuit aside, these cupcakes are perfectly safe for humans to consume. They just taste rather…….interesting!!!
Virtual doggie birthday party!
Given that children aren’t allowed to have birthday parties in this new world order, it didn’t seem very fair that Dozer should have one. Also because after experiencing the carnage at last years’ party (which ended with me having to dive in to grab the cake and run away with it), I knew that the frenzy of excitement created by taking treats down to the beach with 20+ golden retrievers would cause chaos that would likely lead to inadvertent breaches of social distancing requirements!! 😂
So this year, I packed up the pupcakes and distributed them among his friends – here are a few pics of Dozer’s buddies enjoying them!!
Happy Birthday Dozer!🎉
Happy 8th birthday Dozer!! I’ve loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you, that fateful day when I went out “just window shopping” for a puppy. As a pure bred golden retriever, you’re riddled with flaws with your double joints, your long legs, and your abnormally large size.
But to me, you’re perfect – and I wouldn’t have you any other way! – Nagi x
PS Wait, I lie. If you could just stop shedding fur everywhere, that would be terrific. That’s the only thing I’d change about you!
PPS Also, picking up your own 💩
Watch how to make it
Dozer “helping” me make Pupcakes….(not!)
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Pupcakes! (dog cupcakes with “frosting”)
Ingredients
Pupcakes:
- 2 ripe bananas (150g/5oz after peeling, ~2/3 cup mashed)
- 1/2 cup peanut butter , smooth or creamy (Note 1)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups flour , all purpose/plain OR wholewheat/wholemeal (Note 2)
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup oil , vegetable, canola, peanut or olive oil
- 3/4 cup water
Fluffy dog friendly "frosting":
- 500g / 1lb potatoes , peeled and cut into 2 cm/1″ pieces
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1/2 cup yogurt, plain low fat (any unsweetened type) OR sour cream
- 2 – 4 tbsp water
- 12 small dog bone biscuits , for decorating (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan). Line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- Place bananas in a bowl and mash with a potato masher until smooth as you can get it.
- Add peanut butter, honey and eggs. Whisk well until smooth.
- Add flour, baking powder, oil and water. Whisk until smooth.
- Divide between cupcakes until 3/4 full. Bake 22 minutes until the top is golden, or skewer comes out clean.
- Transfer to cooling rack and cool for 30 minutes before topping with “frosting”
Frosting
- Place potato in a large pot of water. Bring to boil, then cook potato for 20 minutes until very, very soft and starting to crumble on the edges.
- Drain, then return into empty pot. Add yogurt, honey and water (starting with 2 tbsp). Beat with electric beater for 1 minute on speed 3, increasing to speed 5, for 1 minute or until smooth and creamy. Add more water if needed – it should have a soft consistency like frosting.
- Transfer to piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm / 3/5" round nozzle (Note 3 for other nozzles). Pipe in swirling motion onto cupcakes, top with dog biscuit.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Just because this ENTIRE post is dedicated to Dozer, doesn’t mean I’m going to skip the Life of Dozer section! 😂 Here he is, on the job during this recipe video shoot. He scored many, MANY Pupcakes in carrying out his job….
Nagi, you are sweet with your pup. I’m gonna make these for my pups and my 👯♀️ sister’s pups.
Thank you for great ideas!
Hi Im hoping to use this recipe for my dog Rosies upcoming birthday party. I would like to make pink pup cakes. Any ideas on how to make the frosting pink? But still natural and dog friendly? Thanks!
Hi Grace…a few drops of juice from a pureed beetroot would make it pink and beets are safe for Rosie (in moderation). Enjoy! N x
Hello, Nagi. I’m really interested to make these cupcakes for my daughter’s dog but I’m worried about using Baking Powder as when I do a Google search it says it can cause “serious gastrointestinal problems.” What are your thoughts on this or if anyone else knows about the Baking Powder for dogs. Thanks Anna.
https://www.wagstowiskers.com/pupdates/2020/12/16/in-what-quantities-is-baking-soda-toxic-for-my-dog
This link is for soda not powder. Hmmm… I’ll need to google to see
in the frosting recipe do you mean 2tbsp of each, honey and yogurt, water or a total of 2tbsp? thank you.
I made the pupcakes but they are sticking to paper. What did I do wrong? They cooked for 22 minutes. They taste real good!
Hi I was wondering if there is a specific type of potato I should use?
Hi Matea, any that you would use for mashing is fine here! N x
Hi, does the yogurt need to be lactose free?
Not at all Julietta. N x
Made it for my dog’s second birthday today and took some of the extras to the dog park, they were woofed down. My dog is obsessed and keeps looking up at the container in the kitchen hoping for more.
can I freeze these pupcakes, or is the frosting freezable?
Hi Sally, I imagine they will freeze fine without the frosting, I haven’t tried freeing with sorry! N x
Thank you and no worries!
My dogs birthday is tomorrow, there was left over icing so i gave him some and he adored it! He deems it very delicious and i’m excited to give him his cupcakes tomorrow
Just made these for my doggie who turned 4 today! At first she was a bit confused but she then ate it all up! Would definitely recommend! They are a huge hit!
Just made these for my doggie who turned 4 today! At first she was a bit confused but she then ate it all up! Would definitely recommend!
Hi, just wondering i was gonna make this for my pups 1st bday is it also edible for humans?
Hi Myra, while all ingredients are edible by humans, there are much better cakes I would choose to eat rather than this one! N x
I want to make these for a friend and I’ll be shipping them through mail . What are you suggestions on preventing them from molding on the way there
I make dog biscuits with oat flour and brown rice flour. Could I substitute those flours for whole wheat?
Hi Kate, they have a different hydration rate and therefore will affect the texture sorry. The other ingredients would need to be modified to suit. N x
My Teddy loved these pupcakes! The icing is so smart! Is there a dog biscuit recipe that I’m overlooking?
Thank you!!
That’s so cute!!! I have one up my sleeve – I’ll have to publish it! N x
What did I do wrong. My icing is not fluffy and solid more creamy
Did you use the right potato?? In anycase, just add more liquid , even water will work fine! N x
Our Wookie turned 5 and we hosted a “pawty” at the park. These were a big hit!!! So fun. Everyone asked: “where’d you get the pupcakes from?” 🙂
That’s so cute Emily!!! N x
Trying this for the first time.. can I freeze these?
Hi Christina, you can freeze these without the frosting – N x
Thank you!!!
Hi Nagi! I’ve bananas to use up but I have no dogs😅. If I make these, I’d forego the frosting for a different one, but would the cupcakes themselves taste good to people? The ingredients do seem appealing. Thanks!
I would make something tastier for human consumption even though these are edible… 😂 N x
This sounds like a great recipe. I am making this for my pup Ollie’s birthday on July 4th. Can’t wait to make them.
Happy Birthday Ollie!!! N x