Peanut Butter Pupcakes
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Dog-friendly cupcakes! These homemade pupcakes are so easy to make with pumpkin puree, applesauce, carrots, and a peanut butter frosting!
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Made these for my pups 2nd birthday and they were a huge hit! Super simple to make and apparently super tasty. His doggie friends were fighting over them!!
Why you’ll love these peanut butter pupcakes
- Uses dog-safe ingredients. Celebrate that milestone with your pup, whether it’s their birthday or gotcha-day, with these easy homemade pupcakes using dog-friendly ingredients and avoiding harmful sugars, fats, and artificial additives.
- Budget-friendly. There’s no need for a specialty dog bakery! Making a small batch of dog cupcakes at home is incredibly cost-effective using pantry staples such as flour, oats, pumpkin puree, and applesauce.
- Allows for complete customization. This recipe can easily be tweaked and adapted to be made grain-free or dairy-free to suit your pup’s dietary restrictions.
What is a pupcake?
A pupcake is a cupcake treat specifically for pups made with wholesome, dog-friendly ingredients such as whole wheat flour, pumpkin, applesauce, and peanut butter.
How to make dog-friendly cupcakes
- Prep the pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or lightly grease with nonstick spray.
- Combine. Combine the whole wheat flour, old fashioned oats, baking powder, pumpkin puree, applesauce, vegetable oil, eggs, and carrots.
- Bake. Transfer the batter into the muffin pan, filling each cup about 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Pro tip: use a large cookie scoop to scoop the batter into each well to ensure a consistent size and even baking for each pupcake.
- Let cool. Let the pupcakes cool completely on a wire rack prior to frosting.
- Make the frosting. While the pupcakes cool, combine the room temperature cream cheese and xylitol-free peanut butter until smooth.
- Frost. Pipe, dollop, or spread the frosting on the tops of the cupcakes, garnishing with a mini dog biscuit (ex. Milk-Bone) or desired topping below.
Topping ideas
- Mini dog biscuits
- Turkey bacon crumbles
- Shredded carrots
- Banana slices
- Blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries
- Jerky or training treats
Tools For This Recipe
Peanut Butter Pupcakes: Frequently Asked Questions
How can I easily transfer the batter to the muffin pan?
A large cookie scoop should work very well here without making a mess.
What kind of peanut butter is best for dogs?
Use a natural unsalted peanut butter that does not contain artificial sweeteners such as xylitol (which is toxic to dogs).
What can I substitute for the peanut butter frosting?
Plain, low-fat Greek yogurt, whipped cream, or mashed sweet potatoes are all excellent substitutes.
How long do pupcakes keep?
Pupcakes can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Can I freeze these?
The pupcakes can be frozen, without the frosting, for up to 2 months.
Peanut Butter Pupcakes
Dog-friendly cupcakes! These homemade pupcakes are so easy to make with pumpkin puree, applesauce, carrots, and a peanut butter frosting!
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup old fashioned oats
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 carrots, peeled and shredded
For the frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- 6 Milk-Bone biscuits, small
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with 6 paper liners; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, pumpkin, applesauce, vegetable oil, eggs and carrots.
- Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray. Place into oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
For the frosting
- In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and peanut butter.
- Use a small offset spatula or a pastry bag fitted with decorative tip #1M to frost the cupcakes, garnished with Milk-Bone, if desired.
Equipment
Notes
- Use a large cookie scoop. Using a small cookie scoop is a convenient way to transfer the batter to the mini muffin tin with ease and less mess.
- Fill 3/4 full. Fill each cavity in the muffin pan about 3/4 full to give the batter room to rise without spilling over the edges.
- Make them mini. Use a mini muffin pan instead, reducing the bake time to 8-12 minutes and yielding 12 mini dog cupcakes.
- Use dog-friendly natural peanut butter. Always check the label to ensure that the peanut butter does not contain any added sugars or artificial additives such as xylitol, an artificial sweetener that is extremely toxic to pups.
- Treat in moderation. Treats, including these homemade pupcakes, should make up no more than 10% of your dog’s total daily calories.
- Freeze without the frosting. The cupcake base is very freezer-friendly, keeping in the freezer for at least 2 months.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
This is a terrific pupcake! (My husband and I both tried it, and while not sweet enough for a “hooman,” our dog and the dogs in the neighborhood LOVED them. One caution, however: because the recipe says it makes 6 cakes, I doubled it and ended up with two dozen regular sized cupcakes! The only other alteration I would make is the amount of carrots: I used three when doubling it – for a single recipe you likely could get away with one. (Now, this may have been that I finely shredded the carrots, who knows?!?) But, the review from the dogs: Delicious, and more, please!
Not sure why, but I had enough to make 11 cupcakes! ♀️
I love this recipe. I use it for my dogs all the time
Please add a note to check the PB ingredients to make sure it is xylitol free. Some peanut butters contain xylitol and it is toxic to dogs!
Very tasty recipe, I tried it and really liked it. Definitely added to my cookbook
Made these for my pups 2nd Birthday and they were a huge hit! Super simple to make and apparently super tasty. His doggie friends were fighting over them!!
If using mini cupcake pans how long should I cook them for? Our pups are under 10 lbs and I think a reg sized cupcake might be too much. Also can you freeze the batter?
I made these for my Goldens 14th birthday. She loved them. She gulped it down in one bite. I will make them for all our pups birthday. So easy.
I have a picky eater, but she loved this. I did make one change to the icing. Instead of cream cheese, I pureed 1 banana and mixed the peanut butter with it.
Our dogs love them I would love to make them for dog birthday parties
The only one who listened the amount of ingredients to use thanks gave u 5 stars.
So….I doubled the recipe to make a dozen for my dog to share with her friends on her birthday. I made 2 dozen regular sized muffins with the cups full. They were a big hit, but I definitely could have made 10-12 from one batch. Frosting also made a big batch. Thankfully I made that second so I started with the original size and checking before doubling.
It looks wonderful and my dog will in joy the treat for thanksgiving
My dogs love these- they demolished them!
My husky loved this. I baked in an 8inch springform tin for 25 mins in a 150 fan oven. Came out perfect. I subbed mashed banana for pumpkin as that costs a small fortune in the uk. Loved this recipe even more as all ingredients were already in the cupboard/fridge. Awesome recipe
Kait I buy whole pumpkins 99p from Morrisons in autumn peel and cook in microwave or steam them mash it up and freeze it in small batches and defrost as required… like u say pumpkin is expensive in England x
Hey looks amazing! how long do these last please!
My dogs devoured these. I used mini muffin tins and decorated the tops of half with shredded carrot “confetti” on top of the frosting. If you do use minis, I suggest chopping the shredded carrots a bit so they don’t stick up and burn.
Great recipe.
I threw a birthday party for two Frenchies we were boarding, they loved the pupcakes so much! Fairly easy recipe to follow, and frosting is a great consistency!
Made them with slight differences, they turned out great, but my frosting didn’t look like yours hastagged you in my insta post, thank you for sharing xx
i haven’t made these for my 15 year old dog yet. His half bday is today so i wanted to make these. Also could i not use punpkin puree?