Mountain Pumpkin Dog Cake

Happy Birthday Nike! I always bake something for her birthday, except last year since we were so busy. So I needed to make an extra special cake this year!

Prior cakes: 1st bday, 2nd bday, 3rd bday (my favorite).

I can’t believe she is 5 years old. We’ve added more babies to the family, but she is always our original baby.

Fun quirks

She loves hiking in the PNW and comes with us on cabin trips.
For the first time, Nike is living in a house, and she loves the backyard. Although she is a pretty quiet dog overall, since we moved to our rental house, she will bark when someone is at the front door or the garage (ugh!).
Her favorite spot in the house is right under Isabelle’s chair because she knows a toddler will throw lots of food to the floor
She has been very good with Alanna (less utter shock, and more “oh, another one of these noisy creatures” when we brought Alanna home)
B will sometimes bring her to the office if he has a half day, and she’s very popular with patients and staff. I made a sign “The Dogtor is IN/OUT” so people know if she’s in the clinic.

This is a dog friendly pumpkin cake adapted from Love From the Oven. I wanted to make a mountain/hiking theme since it’s one of our favorite things to do with her (and Washington is fabulous for hiking). Isabelle saw Nike’s cake and wanted to eat it, despite me telling her it’s for Nike. You can’t fight a toddler, so I gave her a piece and she spat it out since there’s no sugar haha. Nike loved it and inhaled it.

Ingredients
PUMPKIN DOG CAKE
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup peanut butter (make sure no Xylitol)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 Tablespoons honey

FROSTING
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 8-oz cream cheese
food coloring, for decoration
rosemary sprigs, for trees

Directions
PUMPKIN DOG CAKE
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease two 3 inch cake/springform pans (or one 6 inch cake pan).

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, vegetable oil, peanut butter, plain yogurt, pumpkin puree, egg and honey until just combined. Pour mixture into your pans.

Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before adding frosting.

FROSTING
With an electric mixer, beat Greek yogurt and cream cheese until well combined. Spread the white frosting all over the cake. To add the mountains, set aside some of the frosting into 2 small bowls and add green and blue food coloring to desired colors. Paint the mountains and meadows on the frosting using a small knife and paintbrush. Add the rosemary sprigs on top for the trees. Enjoy!