Birthday Peanut Butter Cookie Cake for Your Dog

Over the last few months, I've shared several of my favorite homemade treats that I make for Clem.  I've made pupcakes for her birthday last year; peanut butter squirrel cookies; and apple cinnamon dog biscuits, just to name a few.  You can find the complete list under the "dog treats" section of my recipe index.

This past week marked Clem's 7th birthday - lucky seven!  She turned 7 on April 7th.  Okay, so I don't know that EXACT date, but that's when we've always celebrated it.  Last year, we took Clem on a birthday hike and she absolutely loved it - she's an outdoorsy dog, for sure!  We had to do it again this year.  We hiked for about two hours and stopped in the middle to take some photos.  There were lots of smells and digging.

As for Clem's birthday cake, I wanted to make a "cookie cake," something that resembled a Mrs. Field's cake you would see at the store...except for a dog, haha.  Instead of chocolate chips, I added dried cranberries.

 For the frosting, I made it with some carob powder.  I picked it up at Wegmans, but you can find it here too.  If you see a chocolate-like substance on dog biscuits in gourmet shops, it's carob.  It's a member of the legume family and non-toxic to pets.

Let me tell you: Clem LOVED this cake.  It smells like a warm, peanut butter dream.  I gave her a slice and she devoured it.  It's a large cake for a small pup, so we shared it with her other dog friends.  However, you can easily freeze slices of this cake and take them out of the freezer as needed.

It smelled so good, my husband was tempted to eat it.  It's a nice sugar-free snack, haha!

Birthday Peanut Butter Cookie Cake for Your Dog
1/2 of a banana, smushed
1 c. hot water
1/2 c. natural peanut butter
2 c. flour*
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, aluminum-free
1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c. dried cranberries, optional

*For this recipe, I used whole wheat flour.  If your dog has sensitivity issues, I suggest using 1 cup of oat flour and 1 cup of rice flour.  

Directions
Preheat the oven to  375° and line an 8 inch spring-form pan with parchment paper.  Grease the sides of the pan with coconut oil.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients.  I use my hand to smush and mush all of the ingredients together.  Once everything is combined, scoop the batter into the prepared pan.  To get a completely flattened top, dip your hands (clean hands) in water and smooth it.  The dough will be a little tacky, so you definitely need the water.

Bake the cookie cake for 20 minutes.  Allow it to cool on a rack completely.

For the icing: combine 1/2 cup of carob powder and about a 1/2 cup of water.  Adjust this as needed.  Your mixture should look like thick pudding.  

Fill a piping bag with the carob frosting and ice away!  I was really pleased with the way the writing turned out.

I hope you and your pups enjoy this special cake!

Cheers,
-Aileen