Pup'cakes for Casper's 2nd Birthday!

Casper turned 2 years old on the 24th January and of course he was a spoilt pooch, even more than usual! On his birthday I was working a full day at work, and so Casper went to his dog walkers, where he had a birthday party! It was so lovely to see and know that Casper was having so much fun with his fury and human friends. Each day they have him, either just for a walk or for day care, I get an email update with a little snippet of his day. Here he is celebrating his second birthday at day care with some of his spaniel friends!

As well as buying Casper lots of goodies to open at home on his birthday, I sent him into daycare with some home-made pup'cakes! I wanted to make them myself as I wanted every ingredient added to benefit him, and not be a high allergen. Whenever I buy any treats I try to stay away from ingredients like cereals, and derivatives of any kind, I always look for transparent compositions. So, I thought making the pup'cakes was my best option as I could control what Casper and his furfriends ate! I did some research on the best ingredients to benefit the dogs and combined a few recipes I found, so I felt like I had to share this on my blog for others to try and enjoy!

When it comes to the flour you use there are definitely some which are much better to use than others. Although white flour is our go-to when it comes to baking and cooking, it isn't the best to feed to our beloved pooches because it is highly stripped of most of it's nutrients. Ideally you want a whole grain flour or preferably a non-grain flour. Obviously the non-grain alternative will be a great option for the dogs on grain-free diets, but whole grains can still be beneficial to your dog, but I guess the options are great to know so you can chose what you think is best suited to your pooch!

Whole grain flours basically use the entire grain and therefore hold their original nutrients.

Here are some examples of whole grain flours: oat, rice (brown rice flour-made from the whole rice grain), quinoa, barley, millet, peas, buckwheat & sorghum.

And here are some examples on non-grain flours: chick-pea, lentil, potato, almond, hazelnut & coconut.

However, another factor to bare in mind is the allergen level of the flour, because as we all know some dogs are much more sensitive than others when it comes to grains. If the flour is derived from soy, wheat or corn, these hold a higher allergen level, compared to brown rice flour for example. With a high allergen level, this just means that for those dogs who are more sensitive, they are at a higher risk of having a form of reaction to the grain compared to a low allergen level ingredient. Also, the flours listed which are nut flours, these are another nice alternative as they are high in protein, low in carbohydrates and rich in essential fatty acids like omega 3.

If you're trying to decide on which flour you think is best to use, of course cooking times will vary, but to be honest with you, when I made my pup'cakes I just watched them in the oven and took them out when they looked ready! Personally, my top desired flours to use were oatmeal flour and brown rice flour. Oatmeal flour is a good source of fibre, vitamin B and calcium. Brown rice flour is a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals, and is furthermore a complex carbohydrate, which helps to satisfy hunger, and is a low allergen ingredient.

Recipe:

1 cup of wholegrain flour

1/3 cup of oats

1 large egg or 2 medium eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup of shredded carrot

1 cup of sliced apple

1/3 cup of peanut butter

I chose to add the peanut butter, because what dog doesn't love a hint of doggy peanut butter?! And I added the apple and carrot for a little hint of sweetness, which I thought was a better alternative to perhaps adding some honey. I really enjoyed playing about with the ingredients and deciding of what to put in them because even for a healthy treat, there are so many options!

You could also add: mashed banana, sweet potato, pumpkin, cheese, aniseed... and a lot of these can also be used if you're baking biscuits for dogs, not just cakes!

Topping wise... again you can be as adventurous and you want! We had some coated with more peanut butter, and others with different flavours of Casper's wet food, the Fish4Dogs Trout mousse went down a treat! But again, if you have put in so much effort to make the pup'cakes healthy and top quality, don't forget about what you are putting on them! The wet food brands we used all offered human grade high meat content ingredients, while being natural and grain-free. And to make them look that bit more like a cake, I got some 'Choods' Cheesy Stars which are some of Casper's favourite titbit treats!

Casper absolutely adored the pup'cakes and didn't I know it when he wanted one! He was a thoroughly spoilt pooch and he loved every second of his big day.

We would love to hear about anybody else's experiences with baking and any ideas must be shared! What do you think about biscuits next time?

Thanks for reading,

Amy & Casper