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Birthday Cake for Dogs {Grain Free}

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Birthday cake for dogs?! YES, of course it’s a thing! This grain-free cake recipe is perfect for dogs with a sensitive stomach. Plus, a bonus – it’s safe for humans to eat, and it’s delicious!

Vizla wearing a birthday hat lying down next to grain free birthday cake for dogs

Happy 1st birthday, Oakley!

My baby (fur baby) turned 1! How did that happen? Oh my, I am that puppy parent. I made her a special diet dog bday cake. I dressed her up. We sang happy birthday. I spoiled her rotten. Guilty!

Yes, she is special, and so is this cake!

birthday cake on stand

 

This cake recipe is made with love, for all the fur babies out there with a sensitive stomach, like my Vizsla. But wait a second… can a dog eat birthday cake? I mean, of course they CAN, but should they?

Are cakes bad for dogs?

cake overhead shot with flowers

Let me put it this way; it depends on what the cake is made with. Chocolate birthday cake for dogs is an absolute NO NO (bad human!). In case you don’t know, chocolate is very toxic to dogs, even in small amounts. Please don’t ever give your dog chocolate. Ever.

In addition to chocolate, too much sugar isn’t healthy for your fur baby either. Oh, and because of the alcohol, don’t use vanilla extract in anything you want your pet to eat, either. (source)

Birthday cake for dogs with a sensitive tummy

A grain free birthday cake for dogs is easy to make and healthier for dogs to enjoy! Plus it’s fun for owners to make and bake. This birthday cake is totally human friendly too; just not as sweet. 😉

  1. Helps keep dogs fuller longer, resulting in them eating less frequently. This is good news because grain-free/high-protein dog food can be more expensive.
  2. May help to reduce canine food allergies. By removing grains from your dog’s diet,  you can narrow down what may be causing their tummy troubles.
  3. More energy. Well, depending on your dog, this can be a good thing or a bad thing. 😉
  4. Grain-free diets promote healthier skin.
  5. Shinier coat.

A happier tummy, shinier coat, healthier skin, and more energy? Maybe we should eat birthday cake for dogs EVERY day!

  

Recipe notes

  1.  This cake recipe calls for chickpea or oat flour. If you don’t want to buy oat flour, you can make your own by grinding gluten free rolled oats in a food processor.
  2. Use coconut oil or olive oil. Do NOT use avocado oil! Avocados contain persin, a toxin that can cause serious health problems, and even death, in many animals.
  3. Our Vizla loves strawberries, but if you want to use another fruit, first make sure that’s it’s safe for your fur baby. Bananas, blueberries and raspberries would be good substitutes for strawberries.

 

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Grain Free Birthday Cake for Dogs

★★★★★

4.6 from 17 reviews
  • Author: Lindsay Cotter
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 30
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 3-4 pups 1x
Print Recipe

Description

Grain Free Birthday Cake for Dogs (egg free)

Scale

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cup chickpea flour (oat flour can be substitutes if your pup can handle grains)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 c naturally refined coconut oil -liquid (or olive oil)
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 2/3 c mashed strawberries (1/3 cup to be used to garnish or mixed with frosting)
  • Optional honey (1 spoonful or less)
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk or organic 2% milk

Toppings

  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt or chilled coconut cream with 1 tbsp honey

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven 350F. Line a small cake tin (7 inches) with parchment paper.
  2. In a small bowl, sift your chickpea flour, cinnamon, and baking powder/soda together. In another bowl, whisk your milk, oil, lemon juice together.
  3. Pour your wet ingredients into your flour batter. Fold in 1/2 mashed strawberries and honey. Pour into cake tin. Bake for 30 minutes or until center comes out clean with toothpick.
  4. Let the cake cool then sit in fridge to set for 30 minutes. While cake is chilling, make the frosting.
  5. Whisk together plain Greek yogurt and 1 tbsp honey.
  6. Slice cake in half to create two tiers (optional). Spread about 1/2 cup or less whipped greek yogurt between each cake and stack the cakes gently on top of each other. Spread the rest of your yogurt frosting on top and garnish with leftover strawberries.

Notes

  • This may be made into a sheet pan cake or one tier cake. Adjust baking times if needed. Check status of cake at 20 minutes.
  • Category: dessert
  • Method: bake
  • Cuisine: american

Keywords: pet food, cake, grain free, dogs, birthday cake for dogs, healthy

 

Alright, you fur baby parents, tell me this…..

Have you ever made a birthday cake or special diet treats for your pet? I think I need more recipes! I love it! Next up, snack cakes for dogs. Haha.

Cheers,

LC

Although we don’t have kids, I consider Oakley our child. I don’t really know how to get into that talk about having kids/not having kids. It’s really not in our cards at the moment. Health wise and all. Maybe that’s something to share… another day.

Thank you all for reading and supporting.

Related Posts

Photo of Lindsay Cotter of Cotter CrunchHi, I’m Lindsay!  Gluten Free Nutrition Specialist, food photographer and author of Nourishing Superfood Bowls, and meal plan guru! I’d love to know you more! Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and drop a comment below.

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Reader Interactions

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  1. Liz S says

    SO SWEET! Wishing Oakley many more happy birthdays (and more wholesome, cute cakes).

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  6. Tanya Schroeder says

    I’m so excited to have found this!! I cannot wait to make it for my puupty!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  10. Olivia says

    This cake looks delicious! Just one question, though. Step three in the directions says to add mashed strawberries and honey to the cake, but the list of cake ingredients doesn’t include any sweetener. Did you use any honey in the cake batter? And if so, how much?

    Reply

    • Lindsay Cotter says

      Oh yes, sorry about that. I added a touch of honey to the strawberries but that’s it. Dogs can’t have much sugar so I didn’t add anymore sugar. Does that make sense? I’ll update now.

      Reply

  11. Cassie Autumn Tran says

    Ah, I love this cake recipe! I don’t know if my dog could finish this whole cake herself, and I am pretty darn sure that my parents wouldn’t let her finish it even on her birthday, LOL! But I wouldn’t mind helping her out 😉 Happy Birthday to the gorgeous little Oakley!

    Reply

  13. Morgan says

    Perfect cake recipe, I’m so happy to have found this! Thank you for your creativity Lindsey ? My dog Zero’s birthday is today and I will be making this so I’ll be sure to tag pics of the final product on Instagram.

    Reply

  14. Fiona says

    I made this for my two pups for their first birthday this week. They loved it! I used smooth peanut butter for the icing. Thank you for the recipe 🙂

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  15. Melissa says

    OMG…. PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SUGGESTED SUBSTITUTE OF GRAPE SEED OIL. “1/4 c naturally refined coconut oil -liquid (or grape seed oil)”

    GRAPES ARE POISON TO DOGS.

    I am so afraid of the amount of people reading this recipe trying to make a cake for their dog and using grape seed oil and them poisoning their poor pups on their birthday. No clue if the author if this recipe is dense, or just hates dogs. but whatever you do, please do not use the suggested substitute.

    ★

    Reply

      • Melissa Molnor says

        Sorry, I tried to go back and edit it. I realized how rude and harsh it sounded.

        However, grapes are poison to dogs, even just two grapes can kill a pup. Raisins, grape seed oil.

        Reply

          • Melissa Molnor says

            Actually, the Jury is still out on that. Ultimately the choice is yours, but for myself and many others who work in the pet care and pet supplement industry, it is not worth the risk. The process of making/distributing grape seed oil is not regulated to the degree of what percentage of other parts of the grape can be in the oil to consider it grape seed oil. This is actually a common problem, and unless it is specifically marketed towards pets from a reputable company within the united states, there is no way to tell how pure it is. Therefor, its really not worth the risk to me personally, and many many others. To each is their own, but I would suggest avoiding a random brand off the shelf. (much like any pet food and treats that come from china, or have part of the ingredients sourced from china. not worth the risk)

  16. Melissa Molnor says

    I actually made this with some modifications of adding unsweetened shredded coconut, blueberries half mashed and mixed with unsweeted apple sauce, and PB/greek yogurt (with a touch of honey) frosting. I was boarding a puppy for the week when I found out his first birthday was in a couple days. Us humans thought it tasted pretty good too!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  17. Lynn says

    This was the best recipe I’ve ever made for my pups?? I made it into pupcakes & it worked perfectly, they’re so soft & fluffy which isn’t easy with grain free. My 3 couldn’t wait for them to cool so they could gobble them up!! Thank you so much for sharing??

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  18. Rachel says

    So I actually substituted for coconut flour…. Must’ve really affected the recipe because it came out too dry to form anything… Just crumbled into bits. HOWEVER; I kind of force molded it into a shape with some saranwrap and frosted it anyway.. garnished with berries, and my vizsla Louie loved it anyway!!
    Any thoughts on the coconut flour??

    ★★★★

    Reply

  21. Migi Malalis says

    It’s my baby’s first birthday on the 15th and I’m so excited to make this! Just wondering, can I substitute the almond milk with 100% cow’s milk? If not, can I use water instead? Thanks for sharing!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  22. Lukaya says

    This is the cutest thing it’s my baby’s birthday tomorrow he’s turing 10 so made him it tonight so happy how it turned out thank you 🐶🎂

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  23. Rebecca says

    I was thinking of using coconut flour. I can’t find chickpea flour and everything I’ve read said that oat flour may not hold the ingredients together. How much coconut flour would you recommend? I read a comment where someone had tried coconut flour and it was too dry. My puppers birthday is tomorrow and I’ve waited until the last minute 😩

    Reply

  24. Sarah says

    I have three Vizslas and I have made the cake before and they absolutely loved it! My dog Dakota’s birthday is today and I am making it for him. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!

    Reply

  26. Eva says

    Would you recommend this cake to a diabetic dog? Because I’d love to make this for my pup, but she is diabetic and some things such as the fruit have some extra sugar in it.

    ★★★

    Reply

  27. Alice says

    Hi, I am making this tonight for my frenchie to take into daycare for her friends. just wondered if I could use this recipe to make cupcakes rather than a cake? I have a very dodgy oven and cakes do not normally come out well :). Could you put the fruit in the frosting or put extra fruit in the frosting to flavour that too?

    Reply

  28. Morgan says

    Hi we are attempting to make this and the batter is very dry, is there any suggestions on how to fix that?

    Reply

      • Morgan says

        We used coconut flour, and Then I saw the comment about it drying it out so we have one in the oven and may go back for almond flour since I saw in the comments that that worked for someone. Hopefully one of the two works out!

        Reply

  29. Sapir says

    Omg it’s beautiful!
    Can I use Almond flour instead?
    I didn’t find chickpeas flour and need to make the grain free version.

    Reply

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