Yesterday my furry baby Maverick turned two years old! He's the older of our two Aussies and black tri colored. I could go on and on all day about how wonderful he has made mine and Andrew's life. I had never known such a smart dog until we got this pup...he doesn't require formal training but can pick up on words and is better at reading body language than any other man I know! :) He is loyal to a fault to his family and loves nothing more than getting love and attention from his humans. From the day we got Ripley, he watched her like a good big brother would and will actually try to lead her the right way if she is being mischievous. Needless to say, I love my Mav!
So, I thought for his second birthday, why not go ALL out and make him something above the usual extra treats...and bake a puppy birthday cake! I think I was pretty successful...the dogs seemed to like it at least!
I started with a chicken breast, one egg, peanut butter, oats, and baking powder. Now before I get any nay-sayers, I know that technically baking powder is on the no-no list for doggies; however I only used one teaspoon and it was cooked into the cake, not raw. Obviously if you are extremely concerned you could leave this out and your cake would just be much more dense.
To make the "batter" I added the chicken breast, egg, 1/4 cup of peanut butter, 1/2 cup oats, 1 tsp. baking powder, and 1 cup of water to a food processor. I blended it for about 30 seconds until it was well combined.
Since I wanted a fancy layered cake, I divided the batter evenly between two 4" mini spring-form pans. You could always use small Pyrex bowls (or any small oven-friendly baking dish), or just add all the batter to a standard cake pan for one layer if you don't have any type of miniature bake ware.
I baked the cakes at 375 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes, until a toothpick came out clean. Once removed from the oven, I let them sit about 10 minutes before removing the spring-form pan and transferring them to a cooling rack.
To make the "icing," I cooked a cup of instant rice in the microwave and added it to the food processor with a couple tablespoons of water. I blended this on high until the rice was a mushy mixture.
I then spread the icing over both layers of the cake, keeping a tablespoon in reserve to color for a decoration on top of the cake. I flipped the top layer upside down when spreading the icing so I'd have an even surface for the decoration as well.
To make the colored icing, I added some peanut butter to the reserved rice mixture until well combined. I added a little more water as well so it would be easier to work with. I put the colored icing in a sandwich bag and cut off the corner to it could be used as a piping bag.
Ta-da!!!
Even though this was a very healthy cake all things considered, I didn't want to upset puppy tummies so I gave each of them an eighth of the full cake which they promptly devoured. I put the rest in the refrigerator since it's made with meat and I don't want it to go bad. I'm sure it will be a yummy snack for them over the next week!
"Bone" appetit!!!
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