Diary of a Blonde: Happy Birthday Month, to Everybody!

September is a big month for Birthdays in my family. My Mom turns 48 on the 25th. Wes turns 31 on the 16th, while I will only be turning 27! (yep, we have the same Birthdays!) And my sweet little puppy turned 4 yesterday!

Because I didn't get labor day off we celebrated on Saturday instead. When I say celebrated I'm not kidding. Roxie had presents and we feasted on hot dogs and German beer in her honor. Rox even had a Happy Birthday Doggie Cupcake that I made at home!

Before, I'd always gone to 3 Dog Bakery to get her little somethin' somethin's every year but this time I looked up recipes online and was surprised to see that they were not only easy but really inexpensive too! For those of you who think I'm crazy for making my dog cupcakes and having a party, I get it. But I'll take any excuse to bake and drink, and to me, turning four is a pretty big deal.

For those of you who like to throw parties for your dogs birthday, I have a step by step recipe for yummy pup-cakes.

Here is what you need:

Cake:

1/4 cup vegetable oil  
1 cup shredded carrots  
1 tsp vanilla  1/3 cup honey  
1 egg
1 cup white or whole wheat flour  
1 tsp baking soda  
1/4 cup peanut butter
Dog biscuits for decoration
Optional: Banana, more peanut butter

Frosting:

18oz low fat cream cheese such as Philadelphia
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 tablespoons of honey
Dog Biscuits for decoration

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)

Mix together flour and baking soda

add remaining ingredients

and mix well.

Place into muffin cups. Or if your dog is big, a small cake pan.

Bake 20 minutes if cupcakes and 40, if cake.

voila!

While cake is cooling, combine the cream cheese (at room temperature), honey and yogurt until smooth. I started in a regular bowl but decided it would be easier in my mixer.

I also added a little bit of food coloring to my mix for fun.

I checked online to see if sprinkles were safe for dogs. They seemed to be, so I added those too.

You can't even tell those are't regular cupcakes! I tried a little bit here and there while making them, and while they weren't bad. They weren't real good either.

For dinner, we made hot dogs. I saw this cool tutorial on Pinterest for spiraling your hotdog and tried it. I like them way better spiral cooked than regular now! When you put condiments on them like ketchup and relish, they get in the spiral crevices creating extra yummy goodness. No more dog sliding out of the bun this way!

(Photo Cred: Wes.) He insisted he get credit for taking this picture.

After dinner and presents, we got out the cake. We didn't sing 'Happy Birthday'- I'm not that big of a freak, but I did light a candle for the camera.