Canine Cake

Barbara Burg's nearly five-year-old Canine Café offers not only sumptuous bakery-like treats, but also a cookbook chockfull of recipes to throw a doggie party (we're not kidding) or simply make goodies on your own. Here's one recipe from Burg's The Good Treats Cookbook for Dogs (Quarry Books, $15.99) that's full of dog flavor and looks fun, too.

Apple Crunch Cake
¾ cup unsweetened applesauce
¾ cup hot water
1 cup whole rolled oats
3 eggs
½ cup vegetable shortening
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups unbleached flour
½ cup granola

Frosting
½ cup vegetable shortening
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons carob powder, divided
½ cup carob chips, unsweetened
¼ teaspoon canola oil

Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray and flour 9-inch square cake pan or desired mold shape. Combine applesauce, water, and rolled oats and let stand for fifteen minutes. Blend in the remaining ingredients. Transfer batter to prepared pan. (The consistency will be thick.) Smooth and flatten batter using spatula. Bake cake until top is golden, about forty minutes. Cool for ten minutes. Cut around pan sides and remove. Cool cake completely on a cake rack before frosting.

Frosting
Beat vegetable shortening and cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth. For dog bones, place ½ cup of mixture in a plastic sandwich bag. Blend 2 tablespoons carob powder into remainder of frosting until completed blended. Set aside ½ cup frosting. Spread remaining frosting over the cake, working down around sides.

Combine carob chips and oil in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for one minute at 50 percent power. (You are melting the chips; not cooking them.) Remove from microwave and stir until smooth. Transfer to plastic sandwich bag. Snip corner. Gently squeeze pet's name onto cake. In small bowl, combine reserved frosting with 1 tablespoon carob powder. Place in sandwich bag and squeeze darker frosting along the top edges of the cake to create a border. Refrigerate cake at least one hour before serving.