Recipe: Birthday Cake For Dogs

Pawsitively Irresistible

There are lots of “those” people out there – Dog lovers who consider their pets a front-and-center part of the family. Such is my pack of three to me!

So when my yellow rescue Lab “Harley” turned 12 I knew what I had to do – make him the best doggy cake ever. And boy, oh boy, he loved this peanut butter and carrot cake!

Foodie Tips:

❤  Know your Dog’s diet and whether or not cake is something that he/she can safely enjoy. When in doubt always check with your Vet. I feed my pets treats like this in moderation vs. an all-you-can-eat scarf-fest.

❤  While ours was a gift from a kind friend you can find the Wilton paw print pan locally at Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart, and online. You can also skip the paw print pan altogether and use an 8 inch round pan, or just any shape you’d like and freehand the paw print design to the top of the cake.

❤  We found all of our our cake decorations at HEB. We opted to go big or go home so we proudly displayed Harley’s age in candles (12) plus a Happy Birthday banner all surrounded by color-flame candles, which were amazing.

❤  You can use food coloring to make the icing to your chosen cake-paw colors. Sadly we realized we were out of yellow coloring so we couldn’t make brown icing for the paw pads… but then we got the idea to grind-up some of the Dogs’ grain-free treats and sprinkle them to make the paw design. We used a mini-blender to do the grinding after hand-crushing them with a rolling pin proved to be too difficult and messy.

Ingredients:

for the cake
1 Cup  |  Whole Wheat Flour
1 Teaspoon  |  Baking Soda
¼ Cup  |  Natural Peanut Butter (no sweeteners, colors or preservatives)
¼ Cup  |  Vegetable Oil
⅓ Cup  |  Local Honey (we used Round Rock honey)
1 Cup  |  Carrots, Shredded
1  |  Cage Free Egg

for the icing
4 Ounce Package  |  Low Fat Cream Cheese *at room temperature*
1 Tablespoon  |  Honey
Food Coloring  |  To Dye The Icing (optional)

What To Do:

1. For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease your pan. Whisk together the flour and baking soda. Add the rest of the cake ingredients and mix until well-combined. Pour batter into the pan and bake for 15 – 30 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Our paw pan only required 15 minutes. Remove the cake from oven and set it aside to cool.

The Dog Cake Before The Birthday Decorations Are Added

2. For the icing: Make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature. In a mixer whip the cream cheese with the honey until fluffy. Decorate the cake and present. Be careful your Dog doesn’t get near lit candles! After blowing out the candles and removing them I cut a couple of small pieces and placed them in his Dog bowl.

This cake will last a couple of days covered in the fridge. Have fun with this recipe!

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.

Email: JoePaul@KW.com
Mobile: 512-222-3302
Web: JoePaulReider.KW.com

❤ Love Food? In a click and a scroll you can visit more of my favorite recipes – there’s more than 50 recipes here on the Home Style Austin blog!

Great Entertaining : Raclette Style

“Raclette … Whaaat?”

“Raclette” is derived from the French word for racler, meaning “to scrape.” Modern day raclette refers to a classic Swiss dish where cheese is melted under an electric broiler then scraped and topped on a wide variety of ingredients, traditionally roasted potatoes, cornichons (tiny pickles) and onions. My raclette machine has a granite top that – when heated – serves as a grill plus it has 8 removable toaster trays that rest under a broiler to cook the accompaniments, like melted cheese. Check out my suggested ingredients below! 

Raclette In Action

Going out on the town is always fun, but hosting small gatherings in your own home served with a stylish and unforgettable presentation of food makes for priceless memories and great times – that’s why entertaining is one of my passions! We love inviting friends and family over to enjoy fun and unique dining experiences enjoyed at home. Our raclette machine is always a big hit as the centerpiece of many fun indoor grilling gatherings.

Let’s watch a brief video of the racelette experience:

Why Raclette Will Make You A Hero

Like fondue, raclette is best enjoyed as a social eating experience. We like to jazz things up and make a big spread of all kinds of veggies, meats and seafood so our guests can get creative … and they do! The culinary combinations are entertaining, endless and delicious.

A Few Of Our Favorite Raclette Ingredients …

• Cheese: Fontina, Raclette, Gruyere, Provolone (any melting cheese!)
• Meats: Bacon, Prosciutto, Thinly-Sliced Filet Mignon, Shrimp, Lil’ Smokies
• Veggies: Asparagus, Sliced Bell Peppers, Fingerling Potatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Onions, Zucchini
• Sweets: Apples, Bananas, Pineapple
• Sidekicks: Butter, Olive Oil, Pesto, Olives, Bread, Mini Fillo Shells, Seasonings, Wine + Your Favorite Friends And Family

From sweet to savory – once you’ve gathered your ingredients let your inner foodie’s creativity guide your meal: Melted cheese and onion topped on prosciutto, apples with gooey cheese on top, grilled shrimp with bacon, and one self-proclaimed masterpiece we created called “bananas fauxster” – sliced bananas sprinkled with brown sugar, butter, Texas pecans and then toasted. The recipe for this sweet delight is below!

A Few More Raclette Tips

Since you cook-as-you-go when you raclette, it’s usually a fun process that can easily last an hour to several. We like to start with veggies and savory meats … take a break then have a delightful dismount with the sweets.

Mini Fillo/Phyllo Shells were one of my favorite unexpected discoveries. You can find them here in Austin in the freezer section at HEB. They require no defrosting; simply fill the cups with your favorite ingredients and toast them for a few minutes and you’ve made crispy, melty magic. One of my fillo favorites is to pour a bit of Fischer & Wieser Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce into the cup then top with a  wedge of melting cheese. Place your dish in your toaster tray under the raclette grill’s lower level. When it toasts up, it’s a-ma-zing!

You’ll undoubtedly have leftover ingredients after the big meal. We tossed small potatoes, onions and veggies into our silicon egg rings, topped with eggs and cheese and made some delicious “omelettes raclette” – you can do this on the raclette itself or on stovetop (see pic below).

So now on to the “Bananas Fauxster” recipe! With origins to the 1950s in what has become a famed French Quarter restaurant “Brennans” Bananas Foster is a delicious ending to any fantastic meal. My raclette version (a.k.a. “fauxster”) adapts the original recipe for the raclette and it incorporates two of my favorite Texas ingredients: Texas Pecans and Pecan Street Rum, which is distilled outside Austin in Pflugerville.

Step 1: Place sliced bananas in your raclette tray and top with pieces of butter, some brown sugar and a sprinkling of chopped Texas pecans and a splash of the Pecan Street Rum. Place the grilling tray to the lower level of your raclette and let it toast-up 2-3 minutes or until bubbly brown.

Step 2: Transfer the bubbly banana mixture to a bowl or serve inside a fillo shell. You can also accompany the dessert alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an extra decadent treat.

Ready To Raclette, Right ?!

If you’d like some suggestions for where to score your very own raclette magic, try these retailers:

Bed Bath & Beyond
Williams Sonoma

All this raclette talk has made me hungry so let’s get to grillin’. Enjoy!

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.
512-222-3302

❤ Love Food? In a click and a scroll you can visit more of my favorite recipes! There’s more than 50 of them here on the Home Style Austin blog!