Three Kings Cake for Dogs (Roscón de Reyes), No Sugar and with Real Fruit
Three Kings cake for dogs, the Spanish roscón for January 6: oats, apple and yogurt with quark "cream" and fresh fruit. No sugar, yeast or candied fruit.
- Time
- 1 h 5 min + 40 min resting
- Makes
- 30 pieces
- Type
- Treat
- Difficulty
- Medium
- 22 % egg
- 16 % plain yogurt, no sugar or sweeteners
- 16 % apple, cored and seedless
- 13 % nonfat quark or plain nonfat skyr
Follows THE RULE. All 9 ingredients are on our safe list: nothing that could harm your dog.
This Three Kings cake for dogs is a dog-safe version of roscón de Reyes, the ring-shaped cake Spain eats on January 6, Three Kings' Day (Epiphany), when children open the presents brought by the Three Wise Men. Like the bakery one, it has a crown shape, "cream" on top and colorful fruit, but it is made with oat and whole wheat flour, egg, plain yogurt and grated apple. It has no sugar and no yeast, and the decoration is real fresh fruit: strawberries, mango and blueberries. No candied fruit, which is almost all sugar.
It is meant for the morning of January 6, while the family opens presents and cuts its own roscón, which traditionally hides a small figurine and a dried bean, much like the plastic baby in a New Orleans king cake or a Mexican rosca de reyes. Bake it the day before in a ring pan, decorate it in the morning with whipped quark and fruit, and cut it into 30 small portions, so it lasts several days or can be shared with the other dogs in the family. One thing, though: this cake has no surprise inside, no bean and no figurine.
Why it works
The eggs, beaten until they double in volume, are what make the cake rise instead of yeast. Whole wheat flour gives it structure so the ring doesn't fall apart, and oat flour adds flavor and some fiber. Grated apple and yogurt provide moisture, so the crumb stays tender without butter or oil. Whipped nonfat quark stands in for cream with very few calories, and fresh fruit replaces candied fruit with its color and natural sweetness.
Step by step
Prepare the pan and oven
Preheat the oven to 180 °C / 350 °F (conventional, top and bottom heat). Use a 9-inch (22-24 cm) silicone ring (savarin) or Bundt pan. If you don't have one, a 9-inch (22 cm) round pan with an ovenproof glass in the center works, all lined with parchment paper. Grate the apple and mix it with the yogurt.
Beat the eggs
Beat the eggs with an electric mixer for 5 minutes, until pale, foamy and doubled in volume. This is the most important step: all the air you beat in now is what will make the cake rise, because it has no yeast or baking powder.
Mix the batter
Fold the yogurt and apple mixture into the eggs with a spatula, in two additions. Sift both flours over the top and fold them in gently, from the bottom up, just until no dry flour shows. If you overmix, the batter deflates.
Bake the ring
Pour the batter into the pan, smooth the top and bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the thickest part comes out clean.
Cool completely
Leave the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, turn it out onto a rack and wait until it is completely cold before decorating. If it is still warm, the quark melts and slides off.
Decorate it like a roscón
Stir the quark with a spoon until smooth and spread it over the top of the ring, like whipped cream. On top, arrange the strawberry slices in place of the candied cherries and the mango strips in place of the candied orange, and scatter the blueberries.
Cut into portions
Cut the cake into 15 slices and each slice in half: you get 30 portions of about 33 kcal. For small dogs, one portion split in two; for large dogs, one or two.
How many a day?
As a treat, keeping under 10% of what they eat each day.
— pieces a day at most
| Weight | 3 kg | 5 kg | 10 kg | 15 kg | 20 kg | 30 kg | 40 kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pieces/day | ½ | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Puppy, senior, very active or on a diet? Calculate the exact portion.
- Energy
- 32.8 kcal/piece
- Protein
- 20 % dry matter
- Fat
- 11 % dry matter
Values estimated from the ingredients (BEDCA/USDA data). A treat: keep treats under 10% of what they eat each day.
Storage
Decorated: in the fridge, covered, 2 days at most; the fruit releases juice and the quark gets soggy. Undecorated: fridge 4 days or freezer up to 2 months, in individually wrapped portions. Thaw in the fridge and decorate just before serving.
If you don't have…
- Your dog doesn't tolerate wheat
- Oat flour instead of the wheat flour, 140 g (about 1 1/3 cups) in total; the ring is a little more fragile
- You'd rather avoid dairy
- For the batter, 125 g more grated apple instead of the yogurt; for the "cream," very smooth cooked sweet potato purée
- You can't find mango
- Thin strips of melon or pear, without seeds or core
Cooking tips
- If you make a real roscón or king cake with yeast dough at home, don't leave the dough within reach while it rises: in a dog's stomach it keeps fermenting, swells and produces alcohol.
- Bake the ring on the afternoon of January 5, keep it undecorated in the fridge and add the "cream" and fruit in the morning, while the presents are opened.
- The 10% rule: each portion has about 33 kcal. If you give two portions on Three Kings' Day, cut back their food or their walk treats a little.
Safety
- No surprise inside: don't hide a bean, figurine or plastic baby in your dog's cake or in any piece you give them. Dogs swallow them without chewing and they can get stuck in the throat or the intestine. And when the family cake is cut, find the figurine and the bean right away and put them away: if they fall on the floor, they are your dog's in a second.
- No candied fruit and no jarred maraschino cherries: they are fruit cooked in syrup, almost all sugar, and red cherries often contain coloring. Use only fresh fruit from the list: strawberries, mango, blueberries, melon, pear or apple without seeds.
- Don't give them bakery roscón, king cake or fruitcake: they contain sugar, butter, candied fruit and almonds, often raisins, and fillings of cream, chocolate truffle or custard are very fatty. The same goes for mince pies, Christmas pudding, eggnog, the rest of the holiday sweets and the leftovers from these days. And if there are grapes or raisins still around the house, keep them out of reach: they are toxic to dogs.
- If it is their first time having dairy, start with half a portion: in some dogs yogurt and quark soften the stool.
Frequently asked questions
Can dogs eat king cake or roscón de Reyes?
Not the bakery kind. It contains sugar, butter, candied fruit, sliced almonds and often a cream or chocolate filling, none of which is a good idea for a dog, and the hidden figurine, plastic baby or bean is a choking hazard. If you want your dog to celebrate Three Kings' Day, make this homemade cake with oats, apple and yogurt, decorated with fresh fruit.
What should I do if my dog swallowed the figurine from a king cake?
Call your vet even if your dog seems fine. A small figurine can pass on its own, but it can also get stuck in the stomach or intestine, and that shows up hours or days later with vomiting, loss of appetite, belly pain or lethargy. Don't make them vomit on your own: a hard object can damage the esophagus on the way back up.
Can dogs eat candied fruit?
It isn't recommended. Candied fruit is fruit cooked in syrup until it is saturated with sugar, so it is mostly sugar, and it often contains coloring. The mixed candied fruit used in cakes such as fruitcake can also include raisins or cherries with pits. To decorate a dog treat, use safe fresh fruit: strawberries, mango, blueberries or melon.
Can you make a dog cake without baking powder or yeast?
Yes. If you beat the eggs with an electric mixer until they double in volume, the batter rises enough in the oven with no baking powder or yeast. The cake is a little denser than a bakery cake, but tender. It also avoids the risk of raw yeast dough, which keeps fermenting in a dog's stomach.
What's in it, in detail
- Eggs Yes
- Oatmeal Yes
- Yogurt In moderation
- Apples Yes
- Cheese In moderation
- Strawberries Yes
- Mango Yes
- Blueberries Yes
If they liked it, try
The fridge list
The foods your dog can eat, can have in moderation and must never eat, on a single printable page.