When Duke turned one last week, we decided to celebrate with dog treats. I’m so grateful to bloggers who share their recipes and advice about the “do’s and don’ts” for animals. Most of us with pets know that sugar and chocolate are an absolute “no-no”, but there are more foods out there that don’t agree with dogs. It’s always a good idea to research if you’re going to try something new. After looking at a few recipes, I came up with this idea to combine all the good stuff – apple, banana, oats and peanut butter, of course! My dogs loved these Pup-Cakes and I’m sure yours will too.

Here’s what goes in:

2 apples, peeled and cored

2 ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup wholewheat flour

1 cup unsweetened peanut butter

3 tablespoons (real) honey

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup water

For the icing and pup-cake topping:

200g cream cheese

1/2 cup unsweetened peanut butter

Bone shaped dog biscuits

How to do it:

Boil the apples until they are soft enough to puree. Add the apples to the mashed banana and combine all the ingredients until well mixed. You can use a cake mixer if you’d like to, but the order doesn’t matter. Spoon this batter into muffin casings that you have greased slightly, (or just use a bit of cook and bake spray). Bake at 180º C for approximately 15 minutes. You can use the skewer test method to check that the muffins have cooked through.

To make the icing, combine the cream cheese with the peanut butter. (Remember to use a pet-friendly version that is sugar free, and usually salt free too. You can buy this at pet shops or health shops). Pop this into a piping bag and pipe dollops onto the cupcakes. Top with a favourite dog biscuit or treat for decoration. I hope this gets those pup tails wagging!