Bruno and Max celebrated their first birthday at their home with a chicken liver-oats-cheese cake, a mutton carrot cake and ‘pupcakes’ in various flavours. “I wanted them to enjoy treats with their street pal brownie,” says Jesse Priya, who has adopted both rescue dogs.
JC is one of the many loyal customers who order from Rukmeni Sarathkumar’s Pause N Tails – The Pet Bakery in Chennai. “Once upon a time a client asked for a Captain America pet cake. It was the theme of his son’s birthday and he wanted a similar themed cake for his pet so they could cut the cake together. I made a chicken-carrot cake with the colors of Captain America’s shield,” says Rukmeni, who started her pet patisserie a year ago.
Rukmeni says she receives at least 15 orders for pet cakes every month, with her best-selling Chicken-Carrot Cake and Chicken Liver-Oats-Carrot Cake by far. “It started with making a treat for my golden retriever, Simba. As friends started ordering, I launched this venture adding cakes, ‘pupcakes’, ‘dognuts’ and ‘lollipops’ to the menu,’ says Rukmeni, who also has a miniature Pomeranian, Silky. She further adds that Simmba is not fussy about food, whereas Silky is a chuji. “Resham loves the taste of chicken liver and mutton. And she doesn’t touch any vegetarian food!” she says.
The pandemic and lockdown saw many people adopting dogs and cats, giving a boost to the pet care industry. In the past few years, in particular, there has been an increase in bakers producing preservative-free, human-grade cakes in response to increasing demand.
best for pets
Shruti Saha, who has been in the pet catering business in Bengaluru for 10 years with Bon Appetite, says that although the city has had pet bakeries for many years, awareness about pet food has grown. “Owners are cautious about food allergies, which vary from pet to pet,” says Shruti, pet parent of a Labrador retriever named Aioli. While Chicken Little (whole wheat, chicken, carrots, eggs) is the hottest seller on her menu, Shruti says whatever aioli makes she eats enthusiastically, even experiments.
Instead of ingredients such as sugar, salt and flour for pet cakes, grits or wheat are used. Since chocolate is harmful to dogs, carob, a flavoring agent, is often used as a substitute. Pets enjoy the cake with chicken, mutton, beef or fish. Her favorite vegetables and fruits include carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, apples, beets, spinach and bananas. Store-bought or homemade peanut butter, which does not contain xylitol or a natural sweetener, is a common ingredient. Frosting is done with natural yogurt or biscoff. Shelf life is generally between one and four days when refrigerated.
“Grapes and onions are not good for dogs. Some dogs are allergic to wheat too. In that case, I make cakes with oats and brown rice or white rice,” says Monaz Mehta of Snuggle Barkery in Thane, Maharashtra The owner of nine-month-old Shih Tzu, Zoey, Monaz recently launched yogurt-based ice cream for pets.
Delhi-based Nishan Verma opened The Barkery in 2017 because of his pets, Hugo, a Labrador and Figo, a Chihuahua. Nishna says that Hugo was allergic to wheat and that Fido was fussy. Her menu features “gluten-free” products that include blueberry chicken, coconut honey, peanut butter, and apple cake, in addition to puppets in six flavors. She adds: “When I started my venture, we had to educate customers about our products. It’s no longer needed.”
official taste tester
All of these bakers test products on their pets. Rukmeni says she sometimes asks her clients to reconsider flavors, especially in the case of smaller breeds of dogs because of her experience with Silkies. “In addition to Simba, I’ve tested our products with street dogs and the pets of my neighbors,” she says. Monaz says all of her products are tested by Zoey and if she’s “happy with it” samples are given to “dog friends.”
Outside the metros, there is also a growing market for pet cakes in cities like Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi. Shajini Sasidharan from Bengaluru was pleasantly surprised with the cake she ordered for her Siberian Husky Sky while they were in Thiruvananthapuram on vacation. Cake, Chunky with Minced Chicken, Carrot, Beet, Pumpkin and Mashed Potatoes, from Varsha Prabhakaran’s The Barkery. Ink and his birthday were celebrated at a pet store.
Varsha had resigned from her job as an HR professional in 2020 to start the venture last October. “I thought I was taking a risk as I was not sure about getting clients in the city. But the response has been overwhelming, even though I only do business through my Instagram handle,” says Varsha.
The capital city of Kerala has home bakers who make both regular cakes and pet cakes. “Many pet shops have opened up in the city and when I inquired for pet cakes through one of them, I started making them. Now I have a separate oven and utensils for pet cakes,” says Bitty Manu of MagicBites of Elza. She recently launched her new venture for pet cakes, PAWCAKES. Another homebaker Anjita BJ (Cloud9 Cakes) She says that earlier her customers used to buy regular cakes for their pets too. “Not anymore. Once I started getting inquiries for particularly healthy pet cakes, I tried to learn more about them,” she adds.
Kochi-based Jayalakshmi Deepak was running a baking venture Sugar Craft, which she shut down to focus on the pet-only segment. Hooch & Bailey’s Barkery, which launched in 2019, is named after their two dogs, both boxers. “Bailey was the reason I started it. She is allergic to many foods including rice, carrots, pumpkin and potatoes. She can eat oats, wheat and vegetables like beets, cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini and broccoli. But I Didn’t want to feed her from pet shops as they contain preservatives. So I started making treats for her, starting with biscuits made from oats and wheat,” says Jayalakshmi.
Stating that she researches each product before launching, Jayalakshmi says her training as a baker has helped her experiment with recipes. “My dogs and my sister’s pets taste my menu first,” she says, “initially I used to get two or three cake orders a week. Now I bake at least two cakes per day. .. In addition to birthdays, some pet owners celebrate their pet’s half birthday or even their return home after training!Some people order cakes for their pets when a family member has a birthday party. Birthday happens.”
While cake rates vary according to the ingredients, they usually start at ₹500 for a kilo. Some bakers prefer a certain weight: for example, Jayalakshmi puts it at 700 grams (₹850) for all dogs. “For small dogs they give it as two meals or as a puppet. These cakes are like food because they are made from the food that pets eat every day,” she says.
Since many of these bakers do business through social media handles, the emphasis is on design and packaging. Cake boxes are sturdy, but also fancy. Homemade colors made from carrot, beet, spinach leaves and red cabbage are used to make the cakes aesthetically beautiful.
,