Pupcake recipe

A single serving cupcake for your dog

Over the weekend, we celebrated our family dog Pippin's birthday. He's five years old now, which means he's older than me, the little scamp! Because he's a sweet boy, and because I'll take any excuse to bake, I made him a puppy cupcake — a pupcake! — for his special day. 

I started with a single serving recipe I found online. Other dog cake recipes make an actual entire cake, which is way too much work and food. The single serving is a key perk in this recipe. I doctored up the original because why not? Just look at that face!

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SINGLE SERVING DOG CUPCAKE (PUPCAKE!)

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

1/2 to 3/4 of an apple, finely diced (depends on size)

3 TBS peanut butter + more for frosting

1 egg

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp cinnamon 

drizzle of honey 

crumbled bacon 

WHAT YOU'LL DO

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients until combined. *Note: You can always just kind of eyeball it — your dog will love and eat almost anything, after all! 

3. Line a cupcake pan with one or two cupcake liners (I actually turned mine into two smaller cupcakes, but you can make one giant one if you like!). Spoon the batter into the pan. *Note: If you don't have cupcake liners on hand, greasing the pan should be sufficient. 

4. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean (I baked mine for about 25 minutes). 

5. Allow the cupcake to cool completely, then frost with peanut butter and sprinkle with crumbled bacon. *Note: Tear off the cupcake liner before giving it to your dog, so they don't eat the paper!

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Pippin must have guessed what I was up to in the kitchen — he followed me around, helping me clean the measuring spoons by licking off the peanut butter. When it came time to finally dig into his birthday pupcake, he wasted no time slurping down the peanut butter and bacon — but he got a little confused once he got to the cake part. 

My advice: Break up the cupcake for your pup at this point. It's not only easier for them eat, it'll also discourage them from trying to down the whole thing in one gulp, like Pippin tried to do. Happy barking — I mean baking! (Had to.)