Two birthdays, two birthday cakes-one for humans one for canines

So if you checked the blog and saw the last entry 10 Years of Perfect Pug Love you know that Tubby  turned 10 on March 29.     Anyway, in my last entry I really didn't get down to the celebration of his birthday, just a general tribute to him.   One extra nice thing about Tubby is he and I share almost the same birthday, mine is March 26.  So this past weekend we celebrated our birthdays together.



Here is Tubby with his Dad




And with Mom



When celebrating a dog's birthday it is always good to remember that if you make a tasty doggie cake your dog wont mind as much when you put a silly hat on them and take their picture (something I always do).  Here is the recipe for the cake I made Tubby this year.

                           Tubby's Perfect 10 Peanutbutter, Banana and Carrot Cake

                Ingredients: 

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• Generous cup of all natural peanutbutter
• 1 mashed banana
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• Milk (only as much as is needed to moisten batter)
• Vanilla yogurt for frosting

   Method:

Preheat oven to 350

 This cake is pretty much impossible to mess up (as are most dog baking operations).   Stir together the flour and peanutbutter and then add the mashed up banana and honey and stir again.   Add the beaten and eggs and stir again.   My batter was dry at this point so I added a little milk (just enough to moisten).

 Pour the batter into any greased appropriate sized pan (I used a disposable 8 inch square cake pan but a round pan or a loaf pan would work as well).   Bake for about 25 minutes.    Let cool and frost with vanilla yogurt.  This is a very crumbly cake so it doesn't look that pretty but my dogs went crazy for it!

The finished product served on a Star Trek cake plate

Chomp Chomp

Tubby Definitely Approved

The doggie cake really wasn't my thing, though perfectly edible for people of course.  I prefer a bit more chocolate preferably with a bit of booze or caffeine.   When I was a teenager my favorite cake was  a Chocolate Whiskey Cake from Mrs. London's Bakery and Cafe in Saratoga Springs where I grew up.   This cake from Lora Brody's book Chocolate American Style is the closest I've found and the cake I made for myself to celebrate my 33rd birthday.

Boca Negra Cake With Creme Fraiche Whipped Cream,

Ingredients

• 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used  Ghiradhelli chips), coarsely chopped
  1 1/3 cups superfine sugar
  1/4 cup whiskey (or more to taste)
  1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces, room temperature
  5 large eggs, room temperature
  1 1/2 tablespoons Wondra Flour

Preheat oven to 350 and put a full kettle of water on to boil.  

Line an 8 inch cake pan with buttered parchment paper and place it inside a larger baking pan.

Put the chocolate chips in the work bowl of a food processor.  Bring the whiskey and the sugar to a full boil over medium heat in a small heavy sauce pan,  stirring to make sure the sugar dissolves completely.  Pour the sugar syrup into the food processor through the feed tube and process for 12 seconds.   With the processor running add the butter one piece at a time, followed by the eggs one at a time (crack them into a liquid measuring cup to make adding them easier), and finally the flour.    Process 15 seconds.   

Pour and scrape the batter into the cake pan.    Place the larger pan containing the cake pan on the middle oven rack and then pour the now boiling water from the kettle into the larger pan so that it comes halfway up the sides of the cake pan.  Bake 30 minutes.   Let cake come to room temperature before inverting on a cake plate.  You can serve it at room temp or after being refrigerated.  It keeps several days.   I like it with cream fraiche whipped cream.    

Cream Fraiche Whipped Cream

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup creme fraiche  

Whip the heavy cream in the chilled bowl of a stand mixer until it forms peaks and then fold in the creme fraiche.  So good!

 In addition to the Peanutbutter Banana and Carrot Cake Tubby recieved several gifts (of course I would have liked to shower him with thousands more but sadly I am of limited means).  Here is what he recieved.

1. A party hat from the Etsy store I Lick You.  Not much fun for the dog but looks cute and Tubby enjoyed eating the treats we fed him to get a good picture of him in it.
2. A dog bone toy from the store Olive Green Dog.  It is all natural and was made by craftswomen in Nepal (a fact I am sure Tubby appreciates as a worldly and eco-conscious dog).   I can't say how much I love this store.  All the toys are all natural and safe which is important when the reciever of the toy is going to spend lots of time chewing it.  Best of all if you sign up for their email news letter you get ten dollars of an order of 50$ or more on your dog's birthday.  I already made a second order for Bob's upcoming birthday.
3. A rabbit stuffie from simply fido
4. A bow tie collar from the Etsy store Tux & Tulle 
5. A bag of herring EVO dog treats

You can probably guess what Tubby's favorite gift was: that's right number 5.   The dog bone toy was a big hit with Bob though as he promptly stole it and took to chewing it on the couch.  



Surounded by his presents, and yes I did buy Star Trek themed kid's party decorations they were on sale from Birthday Express and I couldnt resist.   




Here is a good shot of the adorable bow tie, with Scooter the cat in the background




Taste testers await their cake



We then settled in for a nice relaxing evening spent watching  one of my favorite movies The Wrath of Khan on the couch.

All in all a successful birthday (here are some pics from previous years).

Tubby and Ping on Tubby's 9th birthday

Tubby and Bob on Tubby's 9th birthday



Dr. Zira really does not like wearing party hats, don't worry I took it off right after we took this picture and this year I didn't subject her to the torment



Tubby and his best canine friend, little brother Norbert



This is Tubby on his fifth birthday



Tubby on his eigth birthday

3 partying pugs celebrating Tubby's 8th



Mom and Tubby on his 8th birthday



I love how they squeezed together for this 9th birthday shot, I really miss Bingo and I think Tubby does too.



Passed out after celebrating his fifth



Tubby and his blueberry cake on his 9th birthday