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.
Jennifer says
Thank you for this! Turned out wonderful and our Frankie absolutely loved it! So happy and amazed that this could be created small batch with just a few ingredients and without added sugar. Will definitely make again 🙂
Sarah Nevins says
Yay! Happy to hear that 🙂 It’s nice being able to go the extra mile for our furry friends every now and then 🙂
Molly says
Is there no added flour to the recipe?
Sarah Nevins says
Nope – no need for any flour
Jenneh says
Thank you so much for this easy recipe! My daughters were so excited to make a pupcake for our one year old pup on his birthday! Can’t wait to see if he likes it tomorrow! 🙂
Sarah Nevins says
Awww – happy birthday to your pup! Hope they loved it as much as mine do 🙂
Sana says
Hi Sarah,
It’s my baby’s 1st birthday today and I’m so excited to make this! Thank you for such a simple yet perfect recipe.
Sarah Nevins says
Aww! Happy birthday to your furry friend!
Christian says
My girl’s birthday is coming up and this will be perfect.
Sarah Nevins says
Aww! Happy birthday to your girl!
Lily says
Can you substitute the apple for a bannana 🤔🤔
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Lily! That should still work! You’ll only need a small banana or half a medium/large banana
Cait says
I feel slightly silly asking this since my dog will absolutely not care whether his pupcake is pretty or not, but did you mix anything with the peanut butter to help it pipe nicely on top?
I am excited to make these for my dog’s 1st birthday on Friday.
Sarah Nevins says
Silly or not I would also want to to make it look nice for my dog 😀 If I remember correctly, I think for these pics I just added some peanut butter to a ziplock bag and cut off the corner to pipe it on. Depending on how thick/cold your peanut butter is you may want to warm up up in the microwave for about 5-10 seconds just so that it pipes/spreads quicker. Hope that helps!
Karlee says
This may be a silly question, but do you spray the ramekin with cooking spray before pouring the ingredients in to bake it?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Karlee! Not a stupid question at all! You should either grease or line the ramekin before adding the batter.
Sherry says
Is crunchy peanut butter okay to use?
Sarah Nevins says
That’s totally fine 🙂
Vickie says
I make these for each of my fur boys’ birthdays. They love them. Thank you for such an easy recipe to celebrate their birthdays.
Sarah Nevins says
Yay! So glad to hear that – thanks Vickie! Give your fur boys some love for me!
Rhea says
My dogs (toy poodle and labradoodle) really are enjoying them! They were both so curious while I was baking and literally devoured them once they were ready!! Thanks for the recipe, I WILL be making them again! 😃
P.S. I like your other recipes too because they’re gluten free and I’m sensitive to wheat!
Sarah Nevins says
Thanks Rhea! It’s funny you say that because my dogs always seem to be extra curious when I make these – must be the peanut butter! Glad to hear they enjoyed them 🙂