The Purrfect Cat Birthday Cake to Eat Right Meow
It’s time for cat birthday cake, everypawdy!
In case you haven’t yet met my oh-so-debonair whalecat Harry Plumparelli and my oh-so-stripey adorable jerkface Lenny Potatoes, let me re-introduce you.
These two little nuggets are the cats who make my Grinchy heart grow three sizes every day. They’re my chirpy compatriots, my snuggly bed-warmers, captains of the couch and lords of lap-sitting.
I would give them anything in the world if I could.
And today is Harry’s 11th birthday, so it’s cause for celebration. (It’s true; I ignore my own birthday while getting giddy about my cats’.)
Harry normally gets a small plate of roasted chicken–his favorite Human Food in the entire universe–on his special day, but I thought we’d up the ante just a bit this year.
Yeah, I went there. I made cat birthday cake.
Don’t worry, I’m well aware of my crazy cat lady status, but I’m not actually crazy enough to bake an actual dessert for the occasion.
Though I know Harry could potentially chomp through any meal set in front of him without suffering a single twinge of indigestion.
We’re talking about a cat that has already snuck large helpings of jalapeño cornbread and super spicy turkey that had been intended for lettuce wraps.
This is more of a cake in the crab cake sense of the word: a combination of roasted chicken, tuna, and sweet potato that frankly only a cat could love, frosted with a few rosettes of buttermilk mashed potatoes.
And judging from the boys’ reaction, it was an undisputed culinary success–Harry unhinged his snakejaw and took that thing down in seconds flat.
Lenny, who has a more dainty sense of propriety when it comes to eating, had to once again defend his turf from the ravenous hellbeast with whom he shares his house.
(Yes, we couldn’t leave Lenny out of the festivities, so he got his own cake too. Little brothers can be so touchy.)
Audible slurping = happy guys.
Leftover cat birthday cakes? More happy days ahead.
Please note: While everything in these cakes is safe and healthy for your cats, they are not meant as a regular meal replacement, just a treat for very special occasions. Talk to an actual veterinarian or other professional animal health expert if you want to get into making your own cat food for everyday, ok?
Cat Birthday Cake Treats
This cat birthday "cake", made with tuna, chicken, and sweet potatoes, is a feline-approved healthy treat any day of the year.
Ingredients
- 1 5-ounce can white albacore tuna in water with no salt added
- 1/2 cup finely diced cooked chicken
- 1/2 cup pure sweet potato puree
- rice flour, optional
- mashed potatoes for frosting, also optional
Instructions
- Line a small rimmed baking sheet with waxed paper.
- Lock your cats out of the kitchen unless you want them to lose their minds when you open the tuna can.
- Open the tuna can. Drain the tuna of any water, then scoop the tuna into a medium mixing bowl. Flake the tuna into small bits.
- Add the diced chicken to the bowl, then stir in the sweet potato puree, adding just enough to keep the mixture together. You may not need the entire 1/2 cup.
- If your sweet potato is a little loose and watery, add rice flour 1 teaspoon at a time to soak up the excess moisture.
- You can do the fancy chef thing as I did in the photos above and place a 1-inch round cookie cutter on a plate, then scoop the mix into the cutter, smoothing it to the edges. Lift the cutter and voila! You have a perfect little round of “cake.”
- To frost the cake, you can get even fancier and pipe the mashed potatoes with a pastry bag fitted with a large piping tip, or you can just dollop a bit on top. Not all cats like mashed potatoes (Harry was way into it, while Lenny was slightly offended), so caveat emptor.
Notes
To freeze patties for future festive occasions, pat the patties into 1-inch rounds with the palms of your hands and place on the rimmed baking sheet.
Freeze for 1 hour until solid, then transfer to a ziptop bag or freezer-safe airtight container for up to 3 months.
Thaw in the refrigerator before serving to your little niblets.
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Casey Barber
Casey Barber is the owner and founder of Good Food Stories LLC and a visual storyteller whose work often focuses on the intersection of food and culture. She is also the author of the cookbooks Pierogi Love: New Takes on an Old-World Comfort Food and Classic Snacks Made from Scratch: 70 Homemade Versions of Your Favorite Brand-Name Treats, and she couldn’t get anything done without the help of her executive assistant cats, Bixby and Lenny. Her favorite color is obviously orange.
What lucky boys! A piping bag and everything!