Peanut Butter Banana Dog Birthday Cake with Peanut Butter Ganache and Berry Drizzle

 

Holy heck yeah that’s a long freaking title, amiright?!  It’s fitting though. 

This, yeah I’m gonna type it out again but more fully, Peanut Butter Banana Dog Birthday Cake with Peanut Butter Ganache and Blueberry Drizzle ...is special. 

For a special boy. 

Meet Benny. 

Gotcha Day.  Literally just got in the car together and already a "thanks, new Ma!"

If there’s one thing to know about me, which if you’ve followed along you know, is I am a dog lover.  I’m not over the edge about it but, I imagine that could be debated. 

Dogs are the best, man.  They really are.

Let’s set aside the whole shedding thing for a moment though and reflect on why they are the best:  they just love.  They are walking, barking, fluffy unconditional love.  Pure and simple   And pure.

They don’t ask for much, but they give everything.

They keep you warm, they keep you safe, they are joy incarnate, and love.  Love, plain and simple.

And as a baker, if there’s one thing I know, it’s love.  Because for me, baking is all about love.  Making it, sharing it, giving it, gifting it, all of it.

I used to bake for Hailey.  Heck, I even started a whole dog treat business because of her.

And Finn.  Sigh.  Yes.  For Finn.  I baked for him too.  

I miss them both so much.  So so so much.

So yeah, meet Benny.
 

And why the lengthy Peanut Butter Banana Dog Birthday Cake with Peanut Butter Ganache and Berry Drizzle title is apt.

He’s the size of a small horse.  He’s huge. 

I thought Hailey was a big dog, hovering around 96 pounds until she became a tri-pedal.  And then I thought jeez louise, Finn is gigantic.  While he was usually about 92-ish pounds, he was extra tall and extra long.  Like set his chin on the kitchen counter tall.

Enter Benny. 
 

This chair is actually oversized, heh, so he appears almost normal beast size.  Lo, he is not.

While I don’t know his current weight, he was 88 pounds and emaciated on Gotcha Day.  Now that he’s with me, he’s healthy and I’ve gotta guess at minimum 100 pounds. 

And it’s not just a weight difference.  This boy is large.  Large.  His Grandma, my mom, thinks he’s a King Shepherd.  He’s a king to me either way. 

Benny, who I found at German Shepherd Rescue, Inc. via Petfinder, is just….he’s…he’s like the purest soul.  Through and through, every cell in his body is happy. 

All I know about his past is that he was an owner surrender to Chicago Animal Care & Control.  That’s quite literally it.  

I don’t know his age.  Two different vets giving him the once over prior to me said 4 or 2 to 3.

I certainly don’t know his birthday.  So, I decided on Gotcha Day his birthday would be six months later and he’d be three.

So yeah.  I wanted his first birthday with me to be elevated, special, and a winner.  And this cake is all three.

Don’t be intimidated by the name, it’s super easy to pull this off.  If you can stir, melt, and stir, you’ve got this.

The only odd thing you might not have is a six inch round baking pan.*  I used a six inch round springform* but you can use either. 

Please note, read your peanut butter labels extremely carefully and do not use any peanut butter that contains xylitol or birch sugar.  Toxic.

So yeah, this cake is a no-mixer-required delight.

Start off by making some oat flour (or you can buy it* but as it takes mere seconds, it’s painless to make it) by tossing old fashioned oats into a food processor* and grinding that up until fine. 
 

Dump that into a bowl,* toss the rest of the dry ingredients into said bowl. 

In a small dish, drop your blobs of coconut oil and melt that.  Don’t go overboard there; melt until it’s mostly melted then stir until it’s all melted.  

Drop in the peanut butter, water, egg yolk, and mashed banana.  Use a fork or grab a whisk,* mix that up well enough.  

Pour the wet into the dry, stir around.  Yes, it’ll be quite a thick batter, as seen right below.

Whip up the egg white to medium-ish peaks and fold that in portions into your sticky cake batter with a spatula.*  It’ll seem like trying to mix oil and water but it comes together. 

Spread this batter out into your parchment* lined prepared pan and bake. 

Meanwhile, melt the remaining coconut oil and add the remaining peanut butter to make the ganache, stir ‘til smooth.  You can, if needed, add more coconut oil (truth be told, I used a tablespoon, misreading my own recipe) or a bit of water, oat milk, or coconut milk to thin further but you may not need to. 

Last bit, toss your blueberries (or strawberries or dog-safe berry medley - no grapes or raisins) into a small saucepan with the water, heat that until it thickens up naturally. 

With the cake baked and cooled, and just cool it in the pan, no need to remove, it’s assembly time. 

Let's assemble!

Now, if you’re serving this at say, a party, go ahead and slice up the remaining banana thinly.  If you’re like me and are sharing little slices over a few days, slice the banana thinly, spread the slices on parchment and freeze them. 

You can also fully assemble, slice the cake up, and freeze the slices too.  Nice, right?

To assemble this bad boy good-boy-or-girl cake, if you can, carefully slice the cake horizontally into two halves.  It may be a hair crumbly and yeah it doesn’t rise very tall.  So, if you can’t get it sliced in half, no worries, layer the banana slices on top. 

Yes, a slice is missing because Benny's birthday celebration was the night before these photos.

If you can make two halves, layer the bananas on the bottom half, put the top half back on.  You may need to give the ganache a quick zap in the microwave to get it moving again, and then just pour it atop the cake. 

Either drizzle the berry drizzle over everything or serve it ha on the side, up to you. 

Is it over the top?  Maybe.  Is it ridiculous?  Never.

So I present to you, Peanut Butter Banana Dog Birthday Cake with Peanut Butter Ganache and Berry Drizzle. 

Happy birthday Benny, and many many more you big, beautiful, glorious sweetie punkin, you. 

If you want to see Benny in action, come follow him on TikTok.  Here's a link to a quick video of the whole birthday cake process!

*The 6" baking pans, 6" springform pans, oat flour, food processors, mixing bowls, whisks, spatulas, and parchment paper are all Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.