Dog-friendly birthday cake

Your dog is as much a part of your family as anyone else, so you probably want to celebrate his birthday in style. Whether it's a full-scale doggy birthday bash or just an understated special day for your dog, you may have considered the possibility of a dog-friendly birthday cake as part of the event.

Good news is it's entirely possible to make a dog-friendly cake that your dog can enjoy.

To make sure, here are a few of the bad foods for dogs that may be more popular with cakes and parties. So avoid this in cake:

Chocolate is perhaps the most popularly known “no-no” food for dogs, thus a cake made from chocolate isn't a dog-safe choice.

Macadamia nuts can be poisonous, causing weakness, tremors and vomiting. Avoid giving them to your dog at all costs.

Just like humans, dogs can have trouble digesting lactose in milk, so avoid using it as an ingredient in your cake.

Avoid avocados too, because something called Persin found in avocados can cause vomiting, diarrhea and even death in some dogs.

Safe for using in cake:

You'll probably find peanut butter flavored cakes are the most popular and for good reason, they're easy to make and delicious for dogs. Consider a thin layer of peanut butter as frosting. Dog will be licking his lips for hours afterwards.

Another great option is cakes made of carob, which is a chocolate substitute that is safe for dogs. Carob is obviously a bit harder to come by than peanut butter, but if your local supermarket has it, why not use it. It's delicious and safe.

Bananas are often another big hit with dogs, and are completely safe for them to eat. Some mashed up banana makes for some great cake batter and is inexpensive. Banana also goes great with peanut butter (and probably carob too) incidentally.

After your dog-friendly cake is made and ready for consumption, there's one last thing to remember. Even if your cake is made entirely of doggy-safe ingredients, your dog should only have a very, very small serving. He's not used to eating huge amounts of human food and it will make him very sick if he's allowed to gorge himself, even if it is his birthday.