Puppy Cake + Review

Happy Birthday to Ninja face! This past Saturday he turned the BIG 5! My sweet baby boy who I picked up at 11 weeks is now 5-years-old!?! I am definitely one of those dog people who are way too obsessed with their dog and is completely okay with it. So for his 5th birthday I knew I wanted to do something extra special -- a day filled with yumminess, goodies and friends.

If you are looking for cute dog toys -- I highly recommend these Kyjen or Zippy paw toys. They are toys stuffed (that do not tear easily) with little animals and Ninja loves to just pull them out. He has a tree trunk with little squirrels in it, bamboo trunk with little pandas, bee hive with bees, chicken coup with chicks and a banana with monkeys. Too cute!

As I was shopping for Ninja's presents, I kept stumbling on these Puppy Cake mixes. I bought them on Amazon. They seemed really neat and I am always a fan of, what I like to call "spoiled dog products." Plus the mixes got extremely high ratings on Amazon; a big hit with other pups. They come in many different flavors and yogurt frosting. For Ninja's birthday cake, I decided to use carob cake mix but not the frosting. The frosting did not look very good and I wanted something a little more taste appealing. So I decided to make my own frosting.

Each mix makes a 6" cake so I bought 2 mixes to make one, slightly taller 8" cake. Some disclosure -- if you are making a cake for just one dog, this will be way too much. I do not like giving Ninja too much junk food because it is not healthy and I want to avoid any stomach aches. I ended up giving some of his cake away to friends. 1 mix should be plenty. However, if you have more than one dog 2 mixes might be great. These mixes are EASY to make. Completely fail proof!

Add some oil, water and an egg and they bake perfectly. Frost it -- add some treats for decoration and voila! You got yourself one delicious pup friendly cake! Ninja LOVES it :) He gives it 5 paws up! I definitely recommend this product for your next paw-tay! ;)

 

BIRTHDAY PUPPY CAKE

From Puppy Cake

INGREDIENTS

Preheat Oven to 350F Degrees

FOR THE CAKE
1 box of Puppy Cake mix 
3/4 c. water
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 egg

FOR THE FROSTING
8 oz. of cream cheese
2/3 c. all natural peanut butter
1/8 c. honey

DIRECTIONS

For the cake:
In a bowl combine cake mix, vegetable oil, water and egg. Coat 6" cake pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool.

For the frosting:
While the cake is baking, in the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together cream cheese, peanut butter and honey. Mix the ingredients for a few minutes and you will notice the frosting will get fluffier. The frosting should be stiff and not sticky to the touch. Frost cake and garnish with dog treats.

Enjoy,

Birthday Pupcakes

Happy Birthday to my baby! My Ninja face turned the big 0-3! Can you believe it? Another year older, and it flew right by! Well, being the Ninja obsessed mom that I am, I had planned a birthday party with my dog park friends. I thought I would make some pupcakes for the furry-babies and cupcakes for the humans ;) I also did not want Ninja to spend his birthday by himself, so I re-arranged my school schedule so that I was back around noon. It worked out perfectly, because I got to be home with Ninja and make some baked goods for his par-tay. Though I was 20 minutes late to our own party :/ I felt so bad! I mean who is late to their own party! #partyfail.

I was a bit bummed because it has been raining for a few days, and though it was not raining today, it was really, really cold! Where in the world did the warm weather suddenly go?! I mean it is April and this is Texas. I was worried that people would not come because it was so cold, muddy and dreary. I mean- I was even questioning whether to go ;) I am not a fan of the cold. I was happily surprised that when I got there- with about 60 cupcakes in hand (30 pupcakes and 30 red velvet)-- almost everyone who RSVPed actually came and then some :) How sweet was that! And they even waited to give their dogs pupcakes until I could take a picture :) #love #bestdogparkfriendsapersoncouldhopefor! Ninja and I totally love it!

You know who else came? Because I just have awesome friends like that? Justin and Luke. Ninja loves himiself- his Uncles Justin and Luke. He got so excited when he saw them there! And we celebrated with pupcakes and cupcakes :) Ninja tried to steal everyone's pupcake because he ate his too fast. And Beau and I were so popular holding extra pupcakes! But everyone seemed to have a nice time! Of course, Ninja cried when we left after 2 HOURS of play because Justin and Luke went in their own car. He got so upset! Luckily Justin did not have much work to do this evening and so he came to our place, to enjoy some dinner and open presents with Ninja! It was a great birthday :) Could not ask for a better birthday for my baby!

BIRTHDAY PUPCAKES

Adapted from Pizzazzerie

INGREDIENTS

Preheat Oven to 350F Degrees
                                          

makes 30 pupcakes  FOR THE PUPCAKES 4 c. white-whole wheat flour  4 tsp. baking soda  1 (6oz) Chobani banana-strawberry yogurt 2 c. apple sauce  6 tbsp. vegetable oil 1/2 c. honey  4 eggs 4 apples, chopped  1 carrot, grated  1 c. shredded cheese  FOR THE FROSTING 16 oz. (2 packages) cream cheese 3 tbsp. honey 1/2 c. peanut butter  Small dog treats for garnish (optional)

makes 7-8 pupcakes FOR THE PUPCAKES 1c. white-whole wheat flour 1 tsp. baking soda  3oz Chobani banana-strawberry yogurt  1/2 c. apple sauce 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 1/8 c. honey  1 egg 1 apple, chopped 1/2 carrot, grated 1/3 c. shredded cheese FOR THE FROSTING 4 oz. cream cheese 1 tbsp. honey 1/8 c. peanut butter Small dog treats for garnish (optional)

* I provided the recipes for 2 different amounts, since I figured not everyone would be throwing puppy parties at the dog park ;)

DIRECTIONS

For the Pupcakes:
Line cupcake pan with liners. In a large bowl whisk together flour and baking soda. Then add in wet ingredients--yogurt, apple sauce, vegetable oil, honey and eggs and mix until incorporated. Then fold in (rather than stir in) apples, cheese and carrots. Continue folding batter, until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Folding by hand rather than mixer- will prevent over-mixing and make pupcakes more fluffy. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each cupcake liner. Bake for 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let pupcakes completely cool before frosting.

For the Frosting:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together ingredients (cream cheese, honey, and peanut butter). Allow the ingredients to cream for 6-10 minutes. You will notice the frosting double in size. This will create a nice, stiffy yet fluffy frosting! Frost cupcakes using a decorative tip of choice and top with dog treat. Ninja and the other dogs LOVED it! :)

Hope your pup enjoys,
Chika

Homemade Puppy Frozen Yogurt

Today was...lets say...an interesting day. Texas A&M had a bomb threat and so campus was evacuated and classes cancelled. My morning started off with a client re-scheduling so my morning was free :) And then since campus was shut down. I did not have class and I could not get exams scored. I hope my class will be patient- becuase now they will have to wait till Monday to get their grades. I feel bad- I definitely know that as a student I would be so antsy waiting for my grade. Unfortunately- because of the bomb threat there was nothing I can do. The bomb threat, I think, ended up being a hoax-- thank goodness.

Since I had some unexpected time on my hands- I, of course- decided to make something. I wanted to make something for Ninja--something that he would really like. Well, though Ninja loves all treats. He LOVES frozen yogurt especially on hot days. Well, Ninja has had a rough week with the torn ACL, luxating patella and no dog park. He definitely deserved some fro-yo to cheer him up. This time I made a lot more and remembered to take pictures :) As you can see, I make the fro-yo in bulk and then freeze them in small containers for single servings. I move them into big cups, because well...lets be honest...Ninja has a big face :D

HOMEMADE PUPPY FROZEN YOGURT

Adapted from Bunny Roo Beagle

INGREDIENTS

1 (32oz) container of plain, non-fat, yogurt

3 bananas, sliced

1/3 c. honey

1/2 c. peanut butter

Small containers (can use child dixie cups)

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and puree. Once mixed well- pour into 9-10 small containers. Freeze for about 8 hours and serve when needed!

Enjoy,

Chika

Pumpkin Ninja Biscuits

Last post of the day! Phew...I actually love when I have tons of things to post and the truth is I wish I could post daily. Maybe, just maybe soon...I will master my schedule and not always feel so overwhelmed. Not really quite sure how I lived without the hubby with me in College Station, because I barely have time to take care of Ninja :( My poor baby is so mommy deprived. I owe him big time and some major loving! He's starting to have some resistance to my working- and if you are my facebook friend- you would have heard that Ninja now has a cute little routine to attract my attention and convince me that school work is not as cool as him. My conclusion? He has a winning argument!

And what post day is complete without something related to Ninja?! So, although I have not even close, baked everything...I wanted to bake something that Ninja could enjoy. The poor thing, always waits at the edge of the kitchen as I bake and cook, just waiting for me to drop something or hoping that I will give him a treat. And I always feel so bad, becuase he does not get much (or any) of my attention while I bake and then when I'm done he does not get to enjoy anything I make. So I decided to make puppy frozen yogurt (to be posted later) for those hot, after dog park days and these pumpkin biscuits.

Pumpkin is quite soothing for puppy tummies, especially when they are constipated. So I thought- these would be nice to make for Ninja- and hopefully he will enjoy them. Well he did, but he only got one, becuase I did not want him to overload on pumpkin biscuits. Instead of sharing Ninja's enjoyment with words, I thought pictures could make this post :)

PUMPKIN NINJA BISCUITS

Adapted from Simmer Till Done

INGREDIENTS

Preheat Oven to 350F degrees

1/2 c. canned pumpkin

2 eggs

1/4 c. honey

2 tbsp. peanut butter

2 1/2 c. wheat flour

Combine pumpkin, eggs , honey and peanut butter. Mix well. Slowly add in wheat flour. If dough is too soft, add more flour. If dough appears to "hard" knead further. On a floured sufrace roll out dough (re-rolling scraps as you go)- to about 1/4'' thick. If you prefer thicker biscuits or thinner, just adjust thickness of dough. Using cookie cutter, punch shapes out of dough. Simmer Till Done suggested using a fork to create a decorative pattern- which I chose to do. So you might want to think of doing that as well- just use a fork and press down half way through the biscuit. Place cookies on a baking tray (do not grease baking pan)- instead I just lined pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy (or let your dog enjoy),
Chika