Celebrate your best friend with this single serving dog cupcake made with four canine-friendly ingredients. These ‘pupcakes’ are easy to make, grain-free and will make your pooch’s day!
Cakes for Dogs or Dogs for Cake?
You see that lovely, silly greyhound licking his lips and leering at his cupcake in the background?
He’s stolen two whole cakes before. Not cupcakes. CAKES.
After the second incident I made my way to the store to buy a cake stand with a lid to prevent any future thievery from him. He’s just so tall – he’s got pretty easy access to most food on tables and counters.
To be fair to Paddy he’s typically well behaved and his begging is quite polite. As soon as he hears a ‘no’ he backs off. A true gentleman. Unfortunately no one was here to tell him ‘no’ so fair play, I suppose.
Nowadays, the only cakes our silly, long boy gets to eat are his own.
Homemade Dog Cupcakes
This recipe makes either one jumbo size cupcake, or two regular sized ones. It’s aimed for dog tastes, but it’s certainly edible if you want to share one with your hound.
Altogether this recipe is made up of only four, dog-friendly ingredients:
- peanut butter
- diced apple
- egg
- baking powder
To make, simply mix everything together in a small bowl, then fill a couple of muffin cups, bake and that’s it! Easy, straightforward and basically fool-proof.
FAQ’s & Recipe Tips
What kind of peanut butter?
- Ideally look for a natural or sugar-free peanut butter. Just make sure that your sugar-free peanut butter doesn’t include artificial sweeteners like xylitol. Artificial sweeteners are often potentially deadly to dogs.
- Crunchy peanut butter will work just the same.
banana or pumpkin instead of apple?
- Yes! Instead of apple you can use 1 small banana (or half a medium/large banana). Just mash it up and mix it in.
- Use 1/4 cup mashed/pureed pumpkin in place of apple.
freeze these for later?
- Yes! Just make sure you cool them completely first. Wrap the cupcakes individually in plastic wrap then foil, then store in a zip-lock bag for up to three months.
- To thaw: you can let them thaw in the fridge overnight or in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds.
Do I need to peel the apple?
- Don’t worry about peeling.
- You can grate the apple instead of chopping if you prefer.
- Make sure to remove all the apple seeds. They contain a small amount of cyanide. It’s not likely to cause your dog much harm, but it’s still better to avoid any potential risk.
Whether or not you choose to make these for your pup make sure to give them some extra pets for me! They deserve it.
If you have any more questions please let me know in the comments below!
Single Serving Dog Friendly Cupcake
A dog friendly, single serving cupcake to celebrate the special hounds in your life! Grain free and no added sugar.
Ingredients
- 1/2 small or medium apple, diced into small pieces
- 3 tablespoons peanut butter + more if desired for frosting
- 1 whole egg
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (optional)
- bacon bits for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F.
- In a small bowl mix together all of your ingredients until combined.
- Line or lightly grease two holes in a cupcake tin or a small ramekin. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans.
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Allow the cupcake to cool completely. You can leave it as is, or frost with peanut butter and sprinkle with bacon bits.
Notes
Notes of Safety of Ingredients for Dogs
- Make sure to use xylitol free peanut butter/ peanut butter without artificial sweeteners as they can be poisonous for dogs!
- Make sure to remove all the apple seeds. They contain a small amount of cyanide. It's not likely to cause your dog much harm, but it's still better to avoid any potential risk.
- Baking powder and baking soda can be toxic to dog but typically only in large amounts. According to the American College of Veterinary Pharmacists: " Toxicosis may be seen with ingestion of 10-20 g/kg of body weight. This equates to approximately 2-4 teaspoons per kg of body weight." That's roughly 1 teaspoon per pound of body weight. This recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon altogether which should be safe. If you don't want to take the risk, feel free to leave out the baking powder.
Carolyn Fitzgerald says
My dogs LOVED these. So easy to make – they’ll be a regular for us. Thank you!
Sarah Nevins says
Yay! So glad to hear that – thanks Carolyn!
Izzy says
Be careful! I just googled it- baking powder and baking soda is “incredibly poisonous to dogs”
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Izzy! Baking powder/soda are only poisonous to dogs in very large amounts (about 1 tsp per pound of body weight). Even a small 10 pound dog with need to eat nearly 1/4 cup of baking powder or baking soda for it to be toxic.
Janet WYMAN says
Dogs can’t get enough of them and they are so easy to make ~ I’m thrilled!
Sarah Nevins says
Yay! So glad they enjoyed them – thanks, Janet!
colette says
my dog, smokey is turning 11 aka in dog years, 77, and i made these to celebrate🥳 . I replaced apple with banana and he❤ it.
Sarah Nevins says
Great idea replacing the banana with apple – that’s really helpful to know! Thanks Colette 🙂
Colette says
my dog has been stalking the oven since i started baking these. so has my brother because he likes peanut butter and bananas😄 so I put in my dog, smokey´s treats. it is smokey´s 11th birthday!🥳
Sarah Nevins says
Awww! It’s funny how they seem to know it’s for them! Happy birthday to Smokey – give him some extra pets for me 🙂
Tina says
Would it be OK to use egg beaters in place of the egg?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Tina! I’m not positive, but I do think that would work here!
Shivi says
I made this for my dog today .
Replaced apple with banana
Such a delicious and easy recipe.
Thank you so much for sharing .
He loves it .
Sarah Nevins says
So glad to hear that! Thanks, Shivi 🙂
Stephanie says
I made these last night for my dog, Teddy’s, second birthday. They were so easy. I made them exactly as the recipe states. Because we have four dogs, I made 4 half-filled cupcakes, and they were still quite substantial. I will definitely make these again. I was surprised how cake-like the texture was. I have a question, the recipe states baking powder, but the photo (in the 4 sequence photos) says baking soda. I did use baking powder, I wasn’t sure if they were interchangeable or if the baking soda would give a difference texture. Thank you so much for this recipe. I love that it makes such a small batch. I will definitely be using this recipe again. Also, the dogs gobbled them so fast, I couldn’t even get a photo!
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Stephanie, so glad to hear all the dogs enjoyed them!
The baking powder written in the recipe is correct. The pictured collage with the baking soda is a typo that I need to fix – thanks for pointing that out to me!
Give Teddy (and the other three) some extra love for me 🙂