Featuring wholesome ingredients like applesauce, peanut butter, honey, eggs, and whole wheat flour, these dog cupcakes are the best sweet treats to make for your dog’s birthday, holidays, or just to show how much you love them! This dog-friendly cupcake recipe is easy to make and the perfect snack for your furry friends!
What’s in Pupcakes?
These doggy cupcakes, or Pupcakes, contain less than 10 ingredients and take less than 30 minutes to make. This recipe also includes a creamy peanut butter frosting to put on top of the Pupcakes.
- Unsweetened Applesauce: Adds moisture to the cupcakes without compromising nutrition. Use unsweetened to avoid unnecessary sugars. You can use pumpkin puree (make sure it’s 100% pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling!) or mashed bananas instead if you prefer.
- Peanut Butter: Gives these cupcakes a great peanut butter flavor that dogs can’t get enough of! Make sure to check the ingredients. I like peanut butter that is made from just peanuts and salt. Do not use peanut butter with xylitol, as it is toxic to dogs!
- Honey: Adds a bit of sweetness to the cupcakes. Honey contains vitamins and minerals that are good for your pup! Do not feed honey to immunocompromised dogs or dogs under 1 year old!
- Eggs: Bind the cupcakes together. Eggs are a great source of protein, fatty acids, and vitamins!
- Coconut Oil: Adds moisture to the cupcakes. Coconut oil is considered safe for dogs, but some dogs may have allergies. You can also use sunflower oil, flaxseed oil, or olive oil. Vegetable oil also works, but it lacks many of the health benefits of other oils.
- Water: Helps the batter come together without additional calories.
- Whole Wheat Flour: Forms the base of the cupcakes. Whole wheat flour is nutritionally more complete for dogs than all-purpose flour, but all-purpose is still safe to use.
- Baking Powder: Helps these cupcakes rise.
- Cream Cheese: Forms the base of our frosting. Make sure to use plain, brick-style cream cheese and avoid cream cheese with flavorings added to it.
- Milk Bones: An optional garnish for these cupcakes. I like to use the small ones, but you can use whatever size you normally give to your dog.
Pro Tip: Some dogs are allergic to flour/wheat. If you want to make these wheat free, you can use rice flour or coconut flour as a replacement. These alternate flours will work, but might change the consistency a bit.
Pupcake for One
This recipe makes enough cupcakes for a dog birthday party! If you’re looking to make a smaller batch, you can halve the recipe or bake this in a mini cupcake tin to make smaller cupcakes.
For a single dog cupcake, use the following measurements:
- 1 tablespoon applesauce (16 grams)
- 2 teaspoons peanut butter (11 grams)
- ½ tablespoon honey (10 grams)
- 1 small egg yolk (8 grams)
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil (4 grams)
- 1 tablespoon water (14 grams)
- ⅛ cup whole wheat flour (14 grams)
- Pinch baking powder (~1 gram)
- Frosting: ⅔ ounce cream cheese (19 grams) + 2 teaspoons peanut butter (11 grams)
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Trademark Note: In the spirit of transparency, I want to note that some of these ingredients are trademarked products. Milk Bone is a proprietary brand that I want to acknowledge and give credit to.
Generally speaking, no. The cupcakes you and I like to enjoy are too high in sugar and fat for dogs. That’s why I’ve come up with this recipe. Dogs deserve their own special treat to celebrate birthdays!
There has been some discussion on whether or not peanut butter is safe for dogs. Peanut butter is actually a healthy food for dogs, containing vitamins and healthy fats. Make sure to buy peanut butter that does not contain xylitol, as xylitol is highly toxic to dogs! Always take into account any allergies your dog has and avoid foods that cause a reaction.
Yep! All of the ingredients in these cupcakes are safe for human consumption, although I can’t speak to how good they’d taste to us!
Yes, you can. Whole wheat flour has more nutrients than all-purpose, and it’s always helpful to maximize the nutrition we give our dogs, but all-purpose flour is not harmful. You can also use rice flour or coconut flour if your dog has a wheat or gluten allergy. I always recommend letting your dog sample a small amount before giving them a whole cupcake, because dogs can be allergic to anything, just like people!
How to Make Ahead and Store Doggy Cupcakes
The cupcakes can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to enjoy. The frosting can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Store leftover dog cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Let your pup enjoy them cold or at room temperature.
How to Freeze Cupcakes for Dogs
Freeze dog cupcakes tightly wrapped in 2 layers of plastic wrap and 1 layer of aluminum foil for up to 1 month. Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving to your dog.
Dog Cupcakes Recipe
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Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- ⅔ cup unsweetened applesauce 167 grams
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter 135 grams (see note)
- ⅓ cup honey 117 grams (see note)
- 2 large eggs 100 grams
- ¼ cup coconut oil 50 grams, melted
- ¾ cup water 170 grams
- 1½ cups whole wheat flour 170 grams (see note)
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder 10 grams
For the Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese 227 grams, room temperature (1 brick)
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter 135 grams
- 12 small milk bones optional, for topping
Recommended Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (optional)
- Piping Tip Set (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-count cupcake tin with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the applesauce, peanut butter, honey, eggs, and oil together until smooth.⅔ cup unsweetened applesauce, ½ cup creamy peanut butter, ⅓ cup honey, 2 large eggs, ¼ cup coconut oil
- Add the water and mix again.¾ cup water
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and baking powder together.1½ cups whole wheat flour, 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined.
- Spoon into the cupcake tin and bake for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean (or with a few crumbs but no batter).
- Cool completely on a wire rack.
- While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frosting. Add the cream cheese and peanut butter to a bowl. Use an electric hand mixer to beat until smooth.8 ounces cream cheese, ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- Once the cupcakes are cool, use a wilton 1M tip, or simply cut the end of the piping bag (or ziplock), to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
- Top each cupcake with a milk bone.12 small milk bones
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Becky’s tips
- Peanut Butter: Some peanut butter brands are including xylitol to cut the sugar in their peanut butter. Do not use any peanut butter containing xylitol as it is toxic to dogs. Just check for natural peanut butter and check the ingredients.
- Honey: Do not feed honey to immunocompromised dogs or dogs under 1 year old.
- Flour: Some dogs are allergic to flour/wheat. If you want to make these wheat free, you can use rice flour or coconut flour as a replacement. These alternate flours will work, but might change the consistency a bit.
- In place of the applesauce, you can use 100% pure pumpkin puree or mashed bananas.
- In place of the coconut oil, you can use sunflower oil, flaxseed oil, olive oil, or vegetable oil.
- In place of the whole wheat flour, you can use rice flour, coconut flour, or all-purpose flour.
- For smaller cupcakes, you can bake these in a mini cupcake tin instead. Just reduce the baking time!
- Nutritional information does not include milk bones.
Nutrition Information
Hi- This was so easy. I cut the recipe in half and used an overripe banana and unsweet strawberry apple sauce. Instead of the flour I used gluten-free pancake mix. I shared one with my furbaby Lola. It’s a gift for our neighbor-Sophie as she is turning 10 tomorrow. I topped it with some soft heart-shaped doggie bite treats. Thank you- it really tasted good for humans as well!
That looks great, Marla! We’re so glad you both enjoyed it!
i loved this recipe Becky, so did my husky! And we even added a penut butter and honey drizzle to it. He is going to be dancing around when we give it to him.
We’re so happy to hear that, Nikki!
Becky, my babies love these cupcakes!! I made them yesterday and gave them each half of one yesterday and today.