Every year I like to make a cake for Finn’s birthday. He is a special boy, and he deserves a special treat. Before Eleanor began eating solids Finny was a no people food boy. I would have preferred for him to stay that way, but the baby had different ideas. She has been very invested in feeding him part of each meal she has every day. Don’t worry, she eats a dog friendly diet for this very reason.

For his birthday I like to make him a variation of a carrot cake. Finny celebrated his fourth birthday this year, so for the last four years I have been searching for “healthy”, dog safe recipes. The last three cakes have been okay. One was too dry. One was too dense. And one was good, but not great, so I set out to try a new recipe this year. The recipe I liked best was for humans and contained some ingredients that I would not include for dogs (nutmeg, raisins, etc.), and also some that I did not have on hand so I substituted and then substituted again and the final result was the best carrot cake that we have made for Finn‘s birthday thus far. I wanted to share the recipe on here to remember it for myself, and anyone else who cares/needs a solid recipe for their pup.

INGREDIENTS —

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/3 cup oat milk
2 cups grated carrots

HOW TO MAKE —

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly coat a loaf pan in olive oil.
In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients — flour, cinnamon, baking soda, sugar, and salt.
In a separate mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, greek yogurt, and oat milk.
Then combine the wet and dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix until, well combined.
Add grated carrots to the mixture.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Allow to cool before serving.
Enjoy!

I did not do it this time but this would be lovely with a nice cream cheese frosting. You know what, I’m feeling a bit nostalgic…

A recipe for cream cheese icing from my very first blog post all the way back is 2011 via Prosecco in the Park! It was actually a chai and cardamom icing, which is NOT DOG FRIENDLY due to the caffeine in the chai. If making for a pup, just leave out the chai. Cardamom is dog safe.

CHAI CARDAMOM CREAM CHEESE ICING —

1/4 cup sugar
2 chai tea bags
3 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
8 ounces cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup butter, room temp
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp honey

HOW TO MAKE —

Combine the sugar, 5 tablespoons water, the chai tea bags, cardamom pods, and cinnamon stick in a small saucepan. 
Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to make sure the sugar dissolves, then simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. 
Turn off the heat and let the syrup steep another 20 minutes. 
Remove the cardamom pods and cinnamon stick, and squeeze out all the flavor from the tea bags. Let the syrup come to room temperature before proceeding.
In a bowl combine the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, honey, and chai syrup and mix until it is very smooth. 

A fun little bonus if I do say so myself! This was from a recipe for pumpkin cupcakes hence the heavy fall flavor profile. My goodness going for a stroll down old blog memory lane is a trip. I cannot believe I’ve been writing blog posts for so long!