{"url":"https://www.zooplus.ie/magazine/dog/dog-nutrition/baking-dog-cakes-three-tasty-recipes","title":"Baking dog cakes: three tasty recipes","mag_id":225723,"is_single":true,"cat_name":"Dog","sub_cat_id":1817,"sub_cat_name":"Dog Nutrition","cat_id":197}
Treat your dog to a tasty dog cake on its birthday.
Is it your dog’s birthday? Maybe it will get a new toy as a present. To celebrate the day, you can also bake your dog a tasty dog cake or pie. It’s not difficult at all. Here you will find three recipes that your dog is guaranteed to like.
The term “dog cake” is often used for dog biscuits. These are usually handy occasional treats that dogs can eat in one bite.
In this article, we will show you larger dog cakes that you can serve your pet for its birthday, for instance.
Baking dog cakes: Which ingredients are suitable?
In principle, all ingredients that your pet tolerates are suitable for baking a dog cake. Many recipes contain flour or oatmeal, cream cheese, eggs, meat and fruit or vegetables.
You should avoid sugar when baking dog cakes for the good of your dog’s health. Fruits like bananas or berries provide sufficient sugar for a tasty cake. Chocolate and raisins are toxic for dogs and therefore prohibited.
You don’t need special kitchen appliances for baking dog cakes. A mixer, bowls, cake tin, baking tray – and of course an oven – are enough.
No lactose: Many adult dogs don’t tolerate lactose (milk sugar). Hence, you’re safest using lactose-free dairy products for baking.
Advantages of homemade dog cakes
Even if you have to spend some time on it, the effect of baking a dog cake yourself is worthwhile, because homemade cakes have some advantages.
The most important thing is that you know exactly what’s in it. This is particularly beneficial if your dog is suffering from food intolerances or allergies. Moreover, homemade dog delicacies are free of chemical additives and are relatively healthy for that reason alone.
Many people enjoy treating their loved ones with a homemade cake. A homemade dog cake isn’t just a great gift for your own dog, but also makes a good present for the pets of friends and relatives.
Recipe 1: vegetable dog cake
Ingredients for the dough
400g spelt flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
3 eggs
125g grated Emmental
150ml lactose-free milk
75ml sunflower oil
Ingredients for decorating
1 courgette
Some extra oil
Preparing the vegetable dog cake
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Add the flour to a large bowl and mix in the baking powder. Then add the grated cheese, eggs, milk and oil and stir everything thoroughly with a mixer.
Grease a round cake tin with some oil and fill it with the dough. Bake the cake for 50 minutes and then leave it to cool for around 10 minutes before taking it out of the mould.
Afterwards, cut the courgette into thin slices and brown them in a frying pan with some oil. Finally, top the dog cake with the browned courgette slices. Voilà, your dog’s tasty and healthy birthday cake is finished!
Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Then wash and grate the carrot and finely chop the parsley.
Mix the grated carrot and parsley with the minced beef, oatmeal and curd to form a dough. This is best done by hand.
Line a 12cm springform pan with baking paper. This prevents the meat juices from escaping. Afterwards, fill it with the dough and bake the dog cake for 35 minutes.
Leave the cake to cool thoroughly and then coat it with liver sausage. Last but not least, decorate your cake with the dog treats.
Recipe 3: berry dog pie
Ingredients for the dough
1 carrot
1 banana
2 egg yolks
25g dog chocolate (in the form of drops)
35g coconut oil
150g millet flour
Ingredients for the cream for the dog pie
150g lactose-free low-fat curd
1 egg yolk
50g coconut oil
Ingredients for decorating
Raspberries and blueberries
Caution: Definitely don’t use chocolate for humans, because this is toxic for dogs! The pie is also very potent and is only suitable for dogs weighing from 25kg. If your dog is smaller, only give it one piece per day.
Preparing the berry dog pie
In order to bake the dog pie, you first have to peel and grate the carrot. Then peel the banana, cut it into small chunks and add it to the grated carrot. Afterwards, split two eggs and add the yolk to the fruit and vegetable mixture. Stir everything together thoroughly.
Warm the coconut oil slightly until it liquefies and dissolve the drops of dog chocolate in it. Add the chocolate and oil mix to the mixture of carrot, banana and egg yolk.
The millet flour then follows. Mix everything throughly once again until a dough forms.
Split the dough onto two small springform pans – one of 8cm and one of 12cm diameter. You need the different diameters so that you can easily stack the dog pie layers on top of one another later on. Don’t forget to grease the moulds with a little coconut oil beforehand.
Afterwards, bake the two small dog cakes for 35 minutes at 180ºC fan.
Take both little cakes out of the oven and leave them to cool. You can prepare the cream in the meantime.
Slightly heat the coconut oil so that it liquefies. Mix together the low-fat curd, oil and egg yolk.
How to finish baking the dog cake
Finally, cut the two cakes across the middle to make a total of four cake layers or slices.
Take one of the larger layers, spread the cut surface with the cream and put the second layer on top. Do the same with the other two smaller layers, then put both parts on top of one another.
Last but not least, decorate your baked dog cake with the remaining cream and berries.
Do you enjoy baking for your dog? Then you can also treat it to pupcakes or homemade dog treats. There are all kinds of recipes online.
Alternatively, you can find ready-made dog biscuits in the zooplus online store.
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