A silky smooth but perfectly pipeable peanut butter frosting that’s the perfect complement to any cake or cupcake. Also great for just eating by the spoonful!
Maybe you guys haven’t noticed, but I’ve been working on bulking up my “Frostings” section on the blog.
In the past, I would share cake or cupcake recipes and tag on my preferred complementary frosting, but I’m a big believer in choices. Maybe you’d rather frost your funfetti cake with chocolate frosting (or even peanut butter frosting) instead of buttercream, right? Well I wanted to have a good variety of options for you to choose from.
So far I’ve shared my favorites of the following:
- Cream cheese frosting (<—- possibly my favorite frosting of all-time)
- Chocolate frosting
- Vanilla buttercream frosting
And today I’m adding peanut butter frosting to the list.
This recipe is super easy to make, and on Monday I’ll be sharing a very complementary and very dark chocolate cupcake recipe with you, but of course you can put it on whatever you want. You can even just eat it by the spoonful, I know I did.
And yet it remains a mystery to me why my cardio sessions aren’t paying off 😭
Anyway, Peanut Butter Frosting requires just 6 ingredients to make. It’s smooth, creamy, and is great for piping on top of cupcakes or decorating a cake.
Tips for Making Peanut Butter Frosting
- While chunky or creamy peanut butter can work in this peanut butter frosting recipe, I don’t recommend using chunky unless you don’t intend to pipe the frosting. The little peanut pieces will clog up your frosting tips in a second.
- I don’t recommend using natural peanut butter (the kind that separates, you know the one that you usually need to stir before using). I haven’t tried it myself but I’m pretty certain that it wouldn’t work too nicely work with this recipe (it would be too oily).
- This peanut butter frosting pipes very nicely as written. However, for a stiffer frosting, you can add an additional ½-1 cup (65-125g) of powdered sugar.
How Many Cupcakes/How Much Cake Will this Peanut Butter Frosting Cover?
- If you’re generously frosting your cupcakes (as seen in my cupcake photo below), then this frosting will handily cover 12-15 cupcakes. If you’re being a bit more modest, it will cover 24 (I covered 24 cupcakes with peanut butter frosting rosettes using the 1M tip).
- This frosting will also cover a 9×13 sheet cake or a round 2-layer 8″ or 9″ cake. Now I’m just thinking about how I want to make a cake with this frosting and then cover it with ganache… Yum!
Enjoy!
Oh, and do you have any requests for other frosting recipes you’d like to see? I’m currently working on caramel but would love any suggestions that you have!
How to Make Peanut Butter Frosting
Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (245 g) creamy peanut butter
- 3 cups (375 g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Combine butter and peanut butter in a large bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until creamy and well-combined.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (245 g) creamy peanut butter
- Gradually (about ⅓ cup at a time), with mixer on low speed add powdered sugar until completely combined. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so all ingredients are well-combined.3 cups (375 g) powdered sugar
- Stir in vanilla extract and salt.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon salt
- With mixer on low-speed, add milk and stir until well-combined. Gradually increase speed to high and beat for 30 seconds.2 Tablespoons milk
- Spread or pipe frosting onto completely cooled cupcakes or cake.
Notes
Natural Peanut Butter
Since first sharing the recipe I have now tested this recipe with natural peanut butter and it worked just fine, though was a bit gritty.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Alyssa
Hi there! My brother wants me to make him a peanut butter chocolate cake. And I’m going to use this frosting recipe because it looks delicious! But I have a few of questions,
1. Should the butter be cold before I cream it?
2. I have a “no stir” smooth peanut butter, would that work for this recipe?
3. I am making his cake in a 8×8 pan, will there be enough to frost it and decorate it?
4. Finally, is the frosting sturdy enough to pipe his name on it?
Thank you so much!
Sam
Hi Alyssa! I hope your brother loves his cake! I’ll answer your questions in a list to make it easy to attack. 🙂
1. You want the butter to be soft, almost room temperature but not too warm. If it’s cold it will make your frosting lumpy.
2. This sounds like the right type of peanut butter. You really want to avoid the natural stuff that separates and requires mixing before use.
3. Yes this frosting makes enough to cover a 9 x 13 so you should be good to go with an 8×8.
4. Yes this is a pretty stable frosting so you shouldn’t have any issues piping it.
Enjoy! 🙂
Nan
I halfed the recipe and it was amazing!!!!!!!!!! Best frosting ever
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Laura
I can’t wait to try your recipe! I’m thinking chocolate macarons with this pb filling would be divine!
Sam
I bet this would be AMAZING with chocolate macarons! Now I want to try that myself, thank you for the suggestion 😂
I hope you love the frosting, Laura 🙂
Kk
This recipe is awesome looooooveeee it!!!😍
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Jessica Marrs
Holy Heaven! This is amazing! I am going to put it on everything!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jessica! 🙂
kennedie
hi! the recipe is AMAZING! just wondering though, i’ve used it to frost cookies, do I need to refrigerate the cookies? thanks!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you loved it, Kennedie! The cookies do not need to be refrigerated. 🙂
Maddie
I use this recipe all the time! So yummy!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoy it so much, Maddie! 🙂
Ally
Have you ever tried coloring the icing? I want to try it for flowers but not sure how it will react.
Sam
Hi Ally! With the brown from the peanut butter I am not quite sure how the colors would work here. 🙁
Anna
I divided this recipe in half and spreaded it onto brownies. Maybe I should have waited till the brownies cooled a little more, but they were still delicious!
Also some frosting recipe ideas?:
– cookie butter frosting
– marble frosting
– cinnamon frosting
– red velvet frosting? Idk I found it on the web and it sounds pretty interesting 😂
Sam
Hi Anna! This is the perfect frosting to top brownies with! Thank you for your frosting suggestions. I would love a cookie butter frosting for sure! I actually have a red velvet cake coming very soon and the frosting that goes on that is actually an ermine frosting. 🙂
Anna
Ooh yum! I love red velvet desserts and I’ve never tried an ermine frosting before so I can’t wait to make it as soon as it comes out! 🙂
Lillian
Can I use salted butter instead of unsalted. Or is does it matter?
Sam
Hi Lillian! If you use salted butter here you will want to omit the salt. I have an article on using salted or unsalted butter that you can reference in the future for this substitution. 🙂
Shannon
This is my second time making this recipe…and oh my gosh! It is the best frosting recipe. Thanks 👍
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Shannon! 🙂
Kimmyk715
Made this icing to put on a dark chocolate cake. Delicious on the dark chocolate cake!! It is really tasty – just the right amount of peanut butter and a great texture for spreading. It’s a keeper!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Laura
I made this morning. I made a chocolate peanut butter log cake, covered with chocolate ganache and chopped peanut butter cups.
Sam
Wow that sounds incredible! 🙂
debbie
Can you use natural peanut butter for this recipe and if so will I need to alter the recipe ?
Sam
Hi Debbie! Unfortunately I haven’t tried it so I can’t be sure if it will work. 🙁
Leona Farmer
I made it today with half natural and half Peter pan and it was wonderful.
Sam
Thank you for the feedback! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Diana
This frosting is killer on chocolate cupcakes! Love this recipie just as it is.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Diana! 🙂
Melissa Rousselle
I made this yesterday but realized I had left out the milk, so I assume this may have been the reason that the frosting was tough to spread over the cupcakes… so while mine didn’t come out looking all that great, the taste was delicious regardless!
I also found that by refrigerating some of the extra, that it hardens a bit. Leaving it out on the counter for 20 minutes softened it up enough, but again wondering if the lack of milk may have made this happen? Overall, this recipe was exactly what I needed to make the best chocolate and peanut butter birthday cake for my partner! Thank you!
Sam
Hi Melissa! I am so glad you enjoyed the frosting even without the milk! It will harden in the refrigerator regardless of whether you had added the milk in or not. That is just the nature of refrigerating frostings but you absolutely did the right thing by letting it warm up to be usable again. 🙂
Jenna
Hello I’m not using the frosting until tomorrow. Should I refrigerate it since it has milk in it?
Sam
Hi Jenna! Yes, I would refrigerate. You will probably need to let it come to room temperature for 15 minutes or longer (as it will firm up in the fridge) and possibly even mix it again briefly before using. Enjoy!
debbie
Can you use natural peanut butter and if so would I need to alter the recipe?
Sam
Hi Debbie! I haven’t tried it here so I’m not sure how it would turn out. If you do try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂