Dog Birthday Cake
I am obsessed with my dogs. They are the smartest, most beautiful, most athletic, most affectionate little creatures. They light up my life! If you have a dog you probably feel the same way, eh? Dogs are the best.
My sister’s dog Margot has the silliest walk I’ve ever seen. She tinkles around on her little feet (there’s no better word for it, she tinkle-walks) and her bum sachets as she steps. Her tail resembles a ponytail that swishes back and forth. Her long hair flops in front of her eyes so she can’t see a thing (she ran into a pole today, ouch). Margot turned one-year-old last week and what better way to celebrate silly Margot than with a birthday cake?
Food is the perfect gift for Margot because her favorite activity in the world is eating. This breed (Coton de Tulear) is known for being picky eaters with delicate stomachs. Not Margot. No, Margot will eat anything (and I mean anything). Margot chews chunks off my shoes, swallows carpet fringe like noodles, and gobbles goose turds daily. We’ve never had a dog eat so many disgusting things! Margot looks like a princess but she’s actually a grubby girl.
Margot is also a bit of a magpie. She collects little objects from around the house, drags them into her bed, and then sits on them. It’s hilarious! Her dog bed is an assortment of beloved toys, stale bread crusts, half-eaten cookies, and random shoes. Margot loves shoes! Please don’t leave your shoes unattended in our house because they’ll mysteriously disappear… and then reappear in Margot’s bed. Apparently she likes to be surrounded by comforting stinky things. And she likes to save snacks for later.
The only thing Margot enjoys more than eating is Brenna, my sister. Margot likes me but she LOVES Brenna. When Brenna leaves the house (even just for a minute) Margot throws back her head and lets loose an anguished “awoooo” sound. So without further ado, here’s Margot’s Grubby Girl Birthday Cake. Bone Appétit!
As you can see the cake looks quite dry. But to a dog it is perfect.
The princess was served a slice of cake upon fine china*
* a dog bowl shaped like a dog (how meta)
The face of a dog forced to wear a tiny cone shaped hat.
Margot’s Grubby Girl Birthday Cake
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
1 cup flour (preferably all purpose)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup oil (coconut oil or olive oil)
1 egg
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup canned pumpkin (mashed sweet potato would also work)
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup peanut butter
Pink Potato Frosting Ingredients
1 pound potatoes, like waxy and buttery Yukon gold potatoes
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt (Greek is great because it’s thick)
1 Tablespoon beet juice (you could also try beet powder)
Instructions
Cake Instructions
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Grease two 4" cake pans and set aside. If you don’t have two 4” pans (which are hard to come by) you could bake your cake in an 8” round pan. Just be sure to monitor the cake as it bakes so that it does not over-bake or under-bake.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the canned pumpkin, egg, applesauce, honey, and peanut butter until the mixture is smooth.
Add oil to the pumpkin mixture. If you use coconut oil, which is often solid at room temperature, microwave the oil briefly until it’s clear and pourable. Don’t microwave it for too long; oil that is too hot could scramble the egg. Coconut oil that is warm to the touch is perfect.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix until everything is combined.
Pour batter into the two greased 4” pans. Place pans on a baking sheet.
Bake the cakes for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow the cakes to cool for 10-15 minutes in their pans, and then carefully remove the cakes from the pans. Set cakes aside to cool completely.
At this point, you can frost the room temperature cakes. I find it’s even easier to frost cold cakes. So, if you have time, pop the cakes into the fridge until chilled and then frost.
Pink Potato Frosting Instructions
Fill a large soup pot with 1-2 inches of water. Insert a stainless steel steamer. Make sure water doesn’t touch the bottom of the steamer insert. We want the potatoes to steam rather than boil.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks. I choose medium-sized Yukon Gold potatoes and cut each potato into eight pieces.
Once the water is boiling, place the potatoes in the pot and cover with a lid. I steamed my potato chunks for approximately 15 minutes. Depending on the size of your potato chunks, they may take more or less time to steam. Once a knife point slides easily through the potato — it’s ready. If you don’t have a steamer insert never fear. You can always steam the potatoes in the microwave!
Place the cooked potatoes in a food processor and let cool slightly.
Add 1/2 cup of full fat Greek yogurt to the potatoes and process until smooth. If your potatoes are very moist, add less yogurt. If your potatoes are dry, add more yogurt. Basically, you want the potato-yogurt mixture to be spreadable but not runny.
At this point, the potatoes look uncannily like vanilla buttercream. You could totally leave it as is. But because I am extra and because Margot is a girl (a colorblind dog girl but whatever) I made the frosting pink. Here’s how… I juiced one small beet in my juicer and measured out one tablespoon of beet juice. Then I added it into the potato-yogurt mixture. Et voilà! The frosting turned a vibrant, gorgeous shade of hot pink. If you don’t have a juicer, I imagine you could achieve a similar color by steaming a small chunk of red beet alongside the potatoes. You could even mix a bit of dried beet powder into the finished frosting. It’s a choose your own adventure!
Assembly
Slice the tops off of both cakes so that they are flat.
Spread a layer of creamy peanut butter atop one of the cakes. Smooth the other cake on top. Now it’s a layer cake!
Frost the cake using your gorgeous pink potato frosting.
Decorate with itty bitty dog bone “sprinkles” and enjoy!*
*let your dog enjoy the cake — you could eat it but it probably wouldn’t taste good