Dog Cupcakes, also called Pupcakes, are a fun treat for your favorite furry friend! Based off of my wildly popular Spoiled Dog Cake recipe, these fun cupcakes are a great way to celebrate your pup’s birthday, gotcha day, or just a way to show them how much you love them!
Reasons We Love These Dog Cupcakes
- Pupcakes are a fun way to celebrate your pup!
- Cupcakes are great for sharing with your pack of friends.
- They can be made in under 30 minutes! Just add a few extra minutes for cooling time if you want to frost them.
- Easy to make with simple and familiar ingredients.
- Your dog will LOVE them! They are based off of my popular Spoiled Dog Cake recipe, which gets rave reviews each and every day.
I know how much you love your four legged friends, which I am so excited to share this dog cupcake recipe with you! My dogs, and my friend’s dogs, give a big paws up to these tasty treats. Your dog will feel like the pampered pup he or she is when you whip them up a batch!
Pupcake Recipe
I love making homemade food for my dog, and I know you do as well! From Pumpkin Dog Treats to Peanut Butter Dog Treats, Dog Cookies to Dog Donuts, it’s fun to get creative in the kitchen for your favorite canine companion. Many of you have requested a cupcake version of the Spoiled Dog Cake, and it’s finally here! Insert lots of wagging tails all around!
How To Make Cupcakes For Dogs
Making these cupcakes is very easy and straight forward. Even if you don’t have baking experience, you can successfully make this recipe for you puppy! So let’s get to it!
Let’s discuss how to make these dog cupcakes, as well as the ingredients that are needed for them. First, please take note that below, you will find discussion, expert tips, and answers to frequently asked questions about the recipe. The full printable recipe itself, with exact measurements and instructions, is found at the bottom of this page.
Ingredients
Ingredients used have been determined safe by the author for her dogs. If you have any question as to the safety of ingredients for YOUR dog, please check with your veterinarian.
- Whole wheat flour – You could also white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour. I haven’t made this with other types of flours, so I can’t say for sure how they will work if you use them.
- Baking soda – Make sure that you are using baking soda, not baking powder.
- Oil – There are many oils to select from, your vet can help you determine what is the best choice for your dog. I personally like sunflower or olive oil.
- Peanut butter – Make sure to choose a natural variety, made strictly from peanuts. It’s important to avoid any peanut butter that contains Xylitol (also called birch sugar), which can be toxic to dogs.
- Applesauce – Unsweetened, natural, organic applesauce, with no additional ingredients, is ideal.
- Pumpkin puree – Double check that you don’t have a can of pumpkin pie mix, which typically sits right next to the cans of pumpkin puree. You want pure pumpkin puree.
- Egg – Make sure to grab a large size egg. Lately some “large” eggs look much more like mediums.
- Plain Greek yogurt – I prefer to use a natural, organic, full fat yogurt.
Steps To Take
To make your pupcakes, begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Then, in a large bowl, combine the flour and baking soda. In a separate bowl mix together sunflower oil, peanut butter, applesauce, and pumpkin puree. Once combined, mix in egg until incorporated well.
Spoon out your batter (it will be decently thick) evenly between the muffin tins. You can fill them up to the top, because the batter is so dense, the cupcakes will not rise a ton. Also, you may want to smooth out the top of the batter in each tin with the back of a clean spoon to make them nice and rounded.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the cupcake springs back when lightly pressed. Place the cupcakes on a wire rack to cool and frost if desired! My pup liked the frosted cupcakes and the plain ones!
If you plan to frost your cupcakes, just throw the Greek yogurt and peanut butter in a medium sized bowl and mix together using a spatula. I piped my frosting on using a 1A tip and a gallon size plastic baggie, but you can easily spread the frosting on with a knife…your fur baby will devour them either way!
Lastly, top your pup cakes with a cute dog treat! Check out my easy, homemade dog treats that are made with very similar ingredients and are the perfect pup cake topper!
Expert Tips:
Storage: These will keep for about a week after they are made. I popped mine into a container and put them in the fridge!
Freezing: These cupcakes freeze well, though I recommend freezing them unfrosted.
More Recipes To Try
Check out my Recipes For Dogs pages for more recipes for your pups! While you have the peanut butter and pumpkin out, here are some recipes you can make for yourself!
Pumpkin Recipes
- Starbucks Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pumpkin Brownies
- Soft Pumpkin Cookies
- Libby’s Pumpkin Pie
- Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Peanut Butter Recipes
- The Best Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Bundt Cake
- Peanut Butter Pretzel Ice Cream
Pupcakes Dog Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup oil some options on sunflower or olive oil, but check with your vet
- 1/4 cup organic, natural peanut butter make sure it does NOT contain Xylitol (also called birch sugar)
- 1/2 cup organic, unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
Frosting (optional)
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup organic, natural peanut butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine wheat flour and baking soda
- In a separate bowl mix together sunflower oil, peanut butter, applesauce, and pumpkin puree. Once combined, mix in egg until incorporated well. Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and stir until combined.
- Spoon out your batter(it will be decently thick) evenly between the muffin tins. You can fill them up to the top, because the batter is so dense, the cupcakes will not rise a great deal. Also, you may want to smooth out the top of the batter in each tin with the back of a clean spoon to make them nice and rounded.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the cupcake springs back when lightly pressed.Place the cupcakes on a wire rack to cool and frost if desired! My pup liked the frosted cupcakes and the plain ones!
- If you plan to frost your cupcakes, combine Greek yogurt and peanut butter in a medium sized bowl and mix together using a spatula. Frost by piping or spreading on with a offset spatula or butter knife. Lastly, top your pupcakes with a cute dog treat!
Notes
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Pamela Hendrickson says
The kids made these for their dogs bday party. Dogs seemed to enjoy them as much as the kids did
Alixx Ortiz-Roberts says
I modified the recipe a bit. I increased the egg to 2 and upped the soda to 1 tsp. This results in a better rise with a softer crumb. I used olive oil and added 4 oz of mashed banana. The result is a PupCake that humans will like. I made these as mini PupCakes, so 325 F convection for 13 minutes
Alixx Ortiz-Roberts says
I modified the recipe a bit. I increased the egg to 2 and upped the soda to 1 tsp. This results in a better rise with a softer crumb. I used olive oil and added 4 oz of mashed banana. The result is a PupCake that humans will like.
Alixx Ortiz-Roberts says
Sorry. I upped the soda to 1 TSP not 1 TBSP
Alixx Ortiz-Roberts says
I modified the recipe a bit by upping the egg to 2 whole, increased the soda to 1 tbsp, added 4 oz mashed banana, and used olive oil. The extra egg and soda make the PupCakes rise better with a softer crumb. The banana adds a nice flavor such that humans like them. Oh. And I made these as mini PupCakes. 13 min at 325 F Convection
Jilsymar says
I made this awesome pupcakes today for my Doxie, and she loves them. There were so easy to make and with simple ingredients. So in love with this, thanks for sharing. ❤️
Anonymous says
I wish you had a recipe for cat cupcakes and other cat treats. Can this recipe also be used for cats??
Christi Johnstone says
You would want to check each ingredient for it’s safety for cats. If they are safe, then I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t use it for cats. That said, I have NOT checked if the ingredients are okay for cats, so it’s critical that you do so.
Susan Warren says
I am excited to report that I made these delicious cupcakes for our Bichon, Sophie’s 1 year old birthday party today. I made the recipe exactly as listed and they turned out wonderful. I made the icing and slipped it into the freezer for an hour to give it more stiffness. Sophie’s 3 friends who were invited along with her sister and brother all give 5 star paw reviews.
They loved the treat. In October we will have another celebration for Sophie’s arrival to our family from Florida and I will make the icing only and freeze it in small dixie cups to give each of her friends. Pups, especially young dogs love cold treats. Many thanks for taking the time to master this recipe and to share it with the rest of us.
Harry says
What can you use instead of peanut butter as there is a serious allergy (by a human but if the dog licks them it is enough) so anything that can be substituted instead?
Christi Johnstone says
You could look into a sunflower or pea butter, but I have not researched the safety for those with dogs, so make sure to check on that before making them.
Lyndie says
Can I use organic coconut oil instead? And will it make mini pupcakes just the same? And how many?
Christi Johnstone says
I don’t use coconut oil so I am not familiar with it as a substitute in recipes. You can absolutely make mini cupcakes with this, or any cupcake recipe. I don’t know how many it makes as I’ve never made them as minis.