I have a compulsion. It’s not one that Mr NQN encourages but it is so strong that I am unable to resist…
It’s the compulsion to always bringing a cake to a party. I need to join cake purveyors anonymous.
When my mother told me that my one year old nephew was having a birthday one Sunday afternoon I really thought I had my addiction beat. I was too busy with the book to be making a cake for a one year old. Because the book had taken up the week days, I crammed in all of the store and restaurant visits and recipe testing into the weekend which made for some very hectic weekends. Saturday morning came and went and I had no twitch to go into the kitchen and bake something for him. A gift would suffice I told myself.
Until late Saturday afternoon. We had just finished visiting Glasshouse cakes in Revesby where they had given me a carton of Whip N Ice frosting to test. After that we visited Bankstown and walked past the Bread Top where the dog cake that I had wanted to make for so long sat looking out at passersby from its glass window. I weakened and decided that even if it was too late to bake him a cake, I could make him a cake by turning a bought sponge roll into a dog of sorts. I gave them the $7 for the sponge roll, snapped a quick pic of the doggy in the window and we went on our merry way, my heart a little lighter for the fact that I would be bringing a cake along to the lunch the next day.
Late that evening I whipped up the frosting which turned out to be a cross between buttercream and whipped cream. It was satiny smooth and had a vanilla flavour but it occupied that twilight territory of food that doesn’t quite resemble anything you’ve had before and is therefore quite unnatural. It made an enormous amount and was perfect for piping the dog as it was so smooth and soft, much smoother than a lot of buttercream. I don’t know if I would use it on a regular basis as the first ingredient was hydrogenated vegetable oil. However if you are a busy soul wanting to make something quick, then it certainly helps.
The dog, once you put the eyes, nose and tongue and the grass around it looks sort of like a dog. I won’t be hired by Bread Top to ice their dogs I realise but it took about an hour in total to decorate him and it sated my cake purveying desire. When we brought the cake to the party the birthday boy’s mum was surprised. Apparently, their dog at home looks just like the cake dog and Jason and his older sister Natalie spent some time pointing excitedly at their dog Micky in a slightly wonky cake form!
So tell me Dear Reader, if you could have a cake shaped like an animal, which one would it be? I’d love an armadillo red velvet cake just like in Steel Magnolias!
Puppy Dog Cake
- 1 bought swiss roll
- 2 cupcakes or muffins (firmer is better to shape)
- 1 large cake board
- 1/2 carton Whip N Ice
- Grass green colouring
- Brown, white and pink fondant to make the features, bone and ball
- Butterfly on a wire
- 2 piping bags
- Grass piping tip
1. Ensure that the Whip N Ice has thawed and place it in the bowl of the electric mixer with the whip attachment. Whip as per the instructions until you get something of a whipped cream type mixture (I liken it to shaving cream quite honestly). Remove two thirds of it and place it in a bowl. With the remaining third still in the mixer bowl, tint grass green.
With ears and snout but no haunches yet
2. Adhere the sponge cake to the cake board with a little of the frosting and then place a cupcake on its side to be the dog’s snout. Then spread a layer of the white frosting on top to mask any cake and to attach the snout to the body. Cut out two triangles of the other cupcake to make two ears and two pieces to make the back and front haunches and attach these with frosting.
As you can see, I changed the eyes on the dog. I don’t think I got them quite right even in the end but oh well!
3. Fill one piping bag with some of the white frosting using the “grass” tip-piping bags are harder to control when they’re very full so don’t fill it entirely. Pipe up and down trying to make the “fur”-I’d recommend starting on the back of the dog or just practice on another surface.
4. Once the fur is done, fill another piping bag with the green frosting and grass piping tip and pipe grass. This is much easier than doing the dog fur, although it is insanely repetitive!
5. Finally affix a nose and eyes and roll and cut out some fondant to make a bone and a ball.
NQN was given the Whip N ice and some other items to test out
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81 Comments | Add your own
That cake is too cute!!! Seriously impressive.
LEOPARD CAKE! (I want to pat that little boy though – his eyes look so friendly!)
He’s cute! Reminds me of something out of Hello Cupcake. I bet he went down well.
awww how adorable! I’ve seen those cakes at Bread top too – too cute!
Very cute!
Cheers,
Rosa
Cute! I have always loved those Bread Top dog cakes. I’d want a giraffe cake, I think.
That is a great cake for a first birthday. As soon as I saw the first photo I wondered what sort of icing it was. I try as much as possible to make my own cakes and icing because it’s frightening what ingredients are in the store-bought items. But, once in a while, and just on special occasions, and when time is short, it’s very necessary. And no harm done I’m sure. xx
a phoenix.
Ahhh too cute…
But sorry my best friend wins. His daughter turned 1 last week and he made a rubber ducky cake. Totally cute!
That’s too cute to eat!!
I have been waiting to see how this looked since you told me about it – super cute!
Adorable!
That is one adorable looking puppy…and cheeky too sticking its tongue out like that
Very crafty, Lorraine. I have never seen anything like that frosting in a carton… looks a little scary but whips up beautifully without all the fuss of making buttercream. Cake turned out cute as a button. Happy 1 year old, I imagine!
Sometimes I watch those cake art shows (such as ace of cakes) where they make these amazingly realistic cakes that look like the customer’s pet. Then you see them slicing into this pet replica cake. It’s a bit weird if you ask me! Why would you want to eat your best friend?
With that in mind, I’d like a cake that looked like a roast chicken. It’s slightly less weird but every bit as impressive!
This cake is gorgeous!!!! I can’t believe that frosting, it sounds awesome and I don’t think this is a slightly wonky version – this looks like a perfect replica
Love it!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Hehe what a great addiction NQN! The puppy dog is so cute, I’m glad you gave in. I am guilty of always inquiring to see if someone else is baking a cake, and if not I will take it upon myself to do so. If it’s a birthday a cake is a requirement I believe.
Great looking dog, they must have been delighted. The animal cake for me would be a boxer dog, like the Glam Pooch. GG
As always, you are just so clever with your desserts. I am in awe. I was taught, in that Southern American way, to take cakes to all occasions (teas, funerals, “dropping by” etc), but all I ever made was the traditional pound cake. This cake was adorable. I don’t know how you could even cut it!
I bet the birthday boy loved it! I would like a cake shaped like a manatee or dugong. That shouldn’t be too hard, they don’t have any legs:)
they certainly are easy to work with.
I’m not a huge fan of pre made frostings, but I am not knocking the convenience factor, and have bought my fair share of Betty Crocker
I always have to bring a cake too! Any excuse to bake for me
I love this puppy dog cake – it’s so cute!!
It is adorable! I have to say I share your compulsion. I don’t always take a cake but nearly always I turn up with some form of baked goods no matter what the occasion!
I wouldn’t mind an elephant cake although definitely wouldn’t attempt it myself!
I love this cake! <3 I had a little dog that looked just like that but instead of white he was black.
As a child my Mom made me a bunny cake, 2 circle cakes with one of them cut to form ears and a bow tie for the bunny. I loved that one. I suppose now I would love a pig or a ladybug cake. I collect both pigs and ladybugs so either would be really cool.
WOW Lorraine! That’s so pretty! I have your compulsion too! I always want to bake and bring a cake to a party…actually any party lol regardless if it was a birthday or farewell party.
But life sometimmes gets in the way and I’m not always able to do that and I get so sad LOL
It’s genius that you were able to make a store bought cake so pretty! I swear no one would have ever guessed it was store bought hehe Now i’m really interested in trying the Whip N Ice would you possible know where I can get it in Melbourne?
If I could have a cake shaped like an animal it would be a rabbit
GAH! so cute!
How cute. If I was a cake I would lovely to e a beautifully colored and bejeweled butterfly, made from my favorite cake recipe a rose cake.
This is the stuff that makes for great memories. I love your addiction. It makes people happy! Cake and Puppy..two happy words.
I love it. I do them with cupcakes for the girls from time time.
Awww, so cute, you are so kind Lorraine. I don’t really like the idea of pre-made frosting either, whilst convenient, not really to my taste. I also love the movie Steel Magnolias and the fabulous Armadillo cake. Personally, I would love an Owl cake. We have 2 tawny frogmouth Owls as permanent residents in our back yard, so I rather like Owls.
LOL at the tongue.
This stuff would be great for a busy mum who just has to get it done.
I love your little dog. I’ve not done an animal cake since Miss Piggy for my daughter way back in the last century.
Pug puppy next? Pug puppy?
That is adorable! I bet it was the hit of the party. I hope you don’t ever get over your cake-making addiction. We, readers, would suffer because of it.
I want him! I want him!
good effort lorraine do you think you’ll try it again? practise makes perfect
My cake would be a cat of some sort, but my cake decorating skills are SO lame that I doubt it would be recognized as one. I must give the whip ‘n ice a try. I keep seeing recipes from the states that use cool whip, I wonder if this is similar?? If you travel back to Revesby you should turn left out of Glasshouse and walk 100 metres to Sakura Sushi (i think that’s the name, it’s just past the bottleshop. Or drive to Panania and try the Portugese tarts at Lisbon Love – they are the best I’ve ever tasted (and I’ve done some extensive research, believe me
OMG I LOVE him! Too cute! You crack me up!
a cat of course – I’m a catlady. But then again, an elephant cake would mean more cake, right?
Hi Lorraine!
Love the dog cake. Looks fabbo. I am making a vanilla dinosaur cake on the weekend. Really though I’d love a red velvet elephant.
Where do you find whip n ice? Do supermarkets sell it? This would be a lifesaver for the 24 ice cream cone cupcakes I need to make for kindy.
You’ve certainly got a lot of patience. This is dreadfully cute. The closest I’ve gotten to an animal cake is the Hello Kitty birthday cake of my niece when she turned one last year.
Lorraine this is tooo cute to look at! I love how you decorated it. It’s so ridiculously cute. I’ve tried whip n ice too but sadly i just think it does taste quite artificial, but i mean that’s just personal preference. I just want to say woof at the cake lol
How adorable is that cake! Its almost too cute to eat! Almost.
Great effort during a busy period! This is just the sort of cake that I love and I know a little girl who would also love it – I think I wouldn’t do very well with piping and might try to ice it and then use a fork to make hairy lines – though maybe the icing would fall off if I did that?
This is one of THE CUTEST cakes I have ever seen!! The tongue just makes it extra cute! You are SO clever! Have you read Marian Keyes new book: Saved by Cake? Thin you’ll relate to her ‘compulsion’ to making cakes!!
This is one of THE CUTEST cakes I have ever seen!! The tongue just makes it extra cute! You are SO clever! Have you read Marian Keyes new book: Saved by Cake? Think you’ll relate to her ‘compulsion’ to making cakes!!
Awww this is the most adorable cake!! The tongue handing out is just adorable, and so like a little puppy. As for what cake I’d like, I’d like a puppy dog cake please!
Hehe I know what you mean, but I just love baking and it’s no fun baking a whole cake and having to eat it all yourself. Sharing is caring!
Great job on the cake! Looks just like the real deal
Very cute!!!
I too made cake for every party but after I had my kids I cannot even get time to bake for their party …LOL
This cake is really adorable!!!
Reminds me of the one in Breadtop… I like your one better though!
Adorable. Hoping that everything is going ok with the book.
Haha this is ridiculously cute!
Okay, I’m going to BEG you to make me a poodle cake when it’s my birthday!
The tongue is cracking me up.
And I am the chief animal shaped cake maker here so I would prefer a donut.
I love that it’s lactose free – not so sure about the hydrogenated vegetable oil though… That said, it does a great job so wouldn’t be bad every now & then.Love your work with the decorating
How adorable!!! Your recipes and blog posts always make my day!
Btw, I think I’ve seen something like this at that Asian bakery place, Breadtop.
Waw! Your doggie to eat up looks very young & pretty too!
You are very creative, my friend! 
I think this was a stunning gift, so edible & tasty too! 
I would like to receive a red female dragon cake which would be a beet & dark chocolate cake! Ooh yes!
Way back in 1981, when my brother turned 4, my dad arranged for a friend cake maker, to bake and decorate Kermit the Frog. Little Mr 4 was thrilled. We don’t remember how the cake tasted or even what it was made of but I do remember the icing was delicious and looked wonderful.
Love that you couldn’t resist making a cake for the party. xoxo Mum
That is an adorable cake Lorraine! I’m sure the kids couldn’t tell the difference that you didn’t ‘bake’ it. My cake would be a bunny of course.
I’m sitting on the dock at the cottage typing this comment on my iPhone. Sorry I’ve been absent of late, but the dock beckoned and I HAD to answer!
Ohhh cute!
He is very adorable-I like his expression =)
My daughter saw this and wants it for her birthday! I think I can do it…
How fun! Must have been very well received!
This is absolutely a very adorable puppy dog. It was great that you finally had a cake for you nephew.
If I have to choose an animal, maybe a butterfly or a caterpillar, you know, something easy that can be made with cupcakes
Awwww, so creative!
oh my god this is too cute, love it!
cute!!! ahh Steel Magnolias
I’d like an ELephant cake. Just because 
Heidi xo
Very cute, I love it’s little pink tounge and how cool that it looked like their real dog.
Very cute. I always had ballet dancer cakes when I was little, if I had an animal cake probably a wombat, just because I think they are cute!
She or He is so precious!
Oh I almost forgot, a piggy cake for me! That armadillo cake sounds uber cool.
Eeeek – cute! I’ve seen those in Bread Top, what a cute idea!
I must admit I’m like you – I always have to bake and bring something to parties or get togethers, even if I’m pressed for time!
I seriously get you, I am a compulsive cup cake purveyor!
You sure transformed the cake roll! GREAT job on the puppy! I would make a black labrador cake, like our dog. I actually have made the cupcake version:)
So cute! I can’t believe it only took an hour to decorate… You’re amazing!
cake purveyors anonymous? hilarious. i need to join cake scrap takers anonymous because whatever’s left of the cake you or someone else provided, i wrap up and take home for myself!
I totally understand the desire to cake decorate. I havent really showed you some of my creations, but when the urge arises it must be sated. Wow…. whip and ice those crazy Americans
haha I think it’s absolutely adorable! keen to attempt it myself now
Lorraine… I’m speechless! You are simply, truly amazing!
Good replica! Whenever I visit Breadtop (it’s like heaven!) I always think the puppy cakes are strangely cute
If I had an animal cake I’d have a Bichon Frise! I love their fluff ball heads
Aww this cake is adorable!
I’m sorry but this is too funny and you are too cute! I always bring cakes wherever I go but would never even think of making a dog!
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