A Birthday Cake for the Queen of Pups

I love my pets, and I've always been more than happy to apply the term fur mama to myself. Max and Khaleesi are like my children, and I am so thankful for the joy they bring in to Michael's and my home. (Even though they can both be a little too full of personality some days.)

When Michael and I adopted Khaleesi I originally had dreams of doing "birth announcement" type photos with our brand new puppy. But then we saw her and I realized she was a little too big to capture the photos we'd envisioned - she was also a little too timid those first few weeks, and we were focused on making her feel safe in her new environment.  So, I moved my photo aspirations on to our next pet and started dreaming up first birthday cake smash photos for Khaleesi. (I'm not kidding when I say they're like my kids.)

For her puppy cake, I looked at a bunch of puppy friendly cake recipes online and then kind of wung it from there.  Several of the cakes called for flour, and with my gluten allergies we don't keep any in the house - plus we try to keep Khaleesi grain free so that I don't have a reaction if she kisses me. 

I didn't love how the recipe turned out, so I don't feel confident in sharing the exact ratios that I used, but I will share my thought process.

I primarily used peanut butter, a bit of water, an egg for binding, and a tiny bit of honey to also help with binding and flavor.  I also used a little baking powder.

While the batter looked promising at the beginning and before going into the oven, I found that it was too moist and crumbly when it was done baking. (I baked at 350 until I could poke a toothpick in and have it come out clean like I would a normal cake.)

For the "icing" I warmed up more peanut butter in the microwave until it was thin enough to pour over the top. I tried to spread it around, but the cake was too crumbly.

Despite the struggles, I do think it turned out small and adorable. Khaleesi seemed thrilled with it too. (Though, don't worry, we didn't let her eat the whole thing all in one go. The peanut butter kept her going slow so she got a couple bites in while we snapped some photos and then we took the remainder away. No one needs a puppy with an upset tummy!)

Have you ever made your pet a birthday cake?

xoxo,
​Stacia