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!
I made it with ap flour and added a dash of cinnamon. I had a baby food carrot and one organic carrot. It made twelve pupcups but the frosting was a little bit short. Next time I will add a bit more cream cheese and peanut butter.
My rescue dogs 3rd gotcha day (I can’t believe we have had her in her furever home for almost 3 years!) is coming up and we usually celebrate with pupcakes and people cake. I don’t usually put frosting on mine but I think I’ll try this recipe instead and try the frosting. I was a little hesitant when I saw it had cream cheese in it because I wasn’t sure if it was good for dogs but after doing some research I feel better about giving it to her and her pup friends! Thank you!
Thanks so much for sharing!
I’m aiming to make these for my pups bday and thought I had whole wheat flour. Can all purpose flour be used instead?
You certainly can but they might come out differently. Please use your best judgement when making modifications.
Do you have any idea how many calories are in these per pupcake? Or maybe a chart you use to figure it out? I have a MinPin that eats EVERYTHING in sight so I have to try to count calories that I feed him.
Hi Lin! Nutritional information is provided only for select recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”). Hope that helps!
Our two dogs love them
These look great! I’m going to make these for our rescue dog’s birthday! Can people eat this? It looks so yummy. Also – we live in Boulder, CO (5280 ft elevation). Would you have a high altitude version? I always have a hard time with baking because of that. Thanks!
You can certainly try to serve this to humans (sans the Milk-Bone biscuits) but please note that this recipe is specifically made for dogs.
I do not have a high altitude version at this time. Sorry! I hope your pup has a great birthday!
These amazing doggie cups cakes are not only great for them but are good for us to eat too! I ate one and I couldnt believe how moist and delicious it actually was! Scale 1-10 I give it a 10!
Do these need to he refrigerated? Thanks
Yes, you can certainly refrigerate these to extend shelf life but methods for optimal food storage and shelf life should be based on good judgment and what you are personally comfortable with.
Your dog is very fond of this cake.
Can you make this into a cake ? And what size pan would you recommend ? Thanks
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Hi there 🙂 this recipe looks amazing! But could you recommend is there was a non-wheat flour I could replace with? And if yes, are there any things I should look out for when combining or baking the recipe? Thank you so much.
Hi Cheryl! Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
My 10 year old daughter made these for my golden retriever’s 2nd birthday. She only used peanut butter for the icing along with dog treats as toppers. They came out perfect. She shared with the neighborhood dogs and all cupcakes where devoured in 1 bite.
Aw, that is awesome! Thanks for sharing Lisa!
I’m gonna try this soon. Can the eggs be omitted? I have egg replacer if not. We never have eggs in the house and would prefer to not have to buy any for this recipe.
The eggs are the binding ingredient in this recipe. So you might be able to omit them, but it will change the consistency of the pupcakes. I would use egg replacer if you can, but we can’t guarantee that they’ll come out the same. Please use your best judgement when making substitutions/modifications.
You could try using flax egg… which is 1tbs flaxseed meal and 3tbs water… leave to gel for 10mins then use in place of 1 egg…
Could you bake in a glass rectangler dish instead? Any idea how long if yes?
Unfortunately we cannot answer with certainty as we haven’t tried that ourselves. Please use your best judgement when making substitutions and modifications.
Are the old fashioned oats cooked or added as a dry ingredient? It looks like dry to me but I wanted to check. Thanks!
The oats are added dry.
How long will these keep if refrigerated, can we freeze them with the icing?
You can certainly refrigerate these to extend shelf life but methods for optimal food storage and shelf life should be based on good judgment and what you are personally comfortable with.
How long would I bake these, if I make mini pupcakes instead of standard size?
Hi Deb! Mini pupcakes would be so stinking cute! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty regarding the change in baking time. You may want to reduce the baking time by 5 or more minutes but as always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Are the shredded carrots and old fashioned oats necessary?
You can omit.
What does omit mean?
I’ve never made cupcakes for a dog before, but my kids insisted for our pups birthday. It was really fun for them and fun for all of us to watch her enjoy them.
I have made these twice now, for each of my pups First Birthdays, and they were a HUGE hit! I have small dogs so I made 9 smaller pupcakes instead of 6. I also gave extras to my co-workers with dogs and was told they were devoured almost instantly! Love this recipe. It is so each and looks fabulous when finished! Thank you!
Can you refrigerate these to keep? If so how long?
Yes, you can certainly refrigerate these to extend shelf life but methods for optimal food storage and shelf life should be based on good judgment and what you are personally comfortable with.
Do you think freezing them would work?
Absolutely!
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