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.
Rita
I made this earlier this morning for a 4 tiered Mother’s Day cake, for my friend’s wife. I doubled the recipe & it was more than plentiful. Rich, thick & held up VERY well when piping, which…I am new to doing at this level. I’m no novice to baking, but other peanut butter frostings seem to be rather lackluster in flavour & composition. This recipe has a good mouth feel, terrific flavour & I will most definitely be using it as my “go to” recipe from now on. I’d have posted pictures of the cake I made, but there doesn’t seem to be a place here to do do. I hate Instagram. I only use FaceBook, so I guess I’m out of luck. How unfortunate that you limit yourself to only Instagram & no other media.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Rita! I actually have a Facebook group you can join to add pictures to. 🙂
Dee
This is the best peanut butter frosting I’ve ever had. And just for the record, leftovers put in the refrigerator are like a delicious peanut butter fudge.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We love hearing that, Dee! Thanks so much for trying our recipe ❤
Jean
Could you make and frost a cake with this frosting ahead of time and freeze
Thank you
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Jean! We haven’t frozen it ourselves, but it should hold up nicely in the freezer. 🙂
Ren
It was an extreme struggle to not eat this frosting like it was pudding instead of waiting to pipe it onto my cupcakes. It’s so good.
Sam
🤣 I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Maegan
This was absolutely delicious!! My mom wanted a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting for her birthday, so I made your devil’s food cake recipe and this peanut butter frosting and it was phenomenal! I always end up messing with frosting recipes because they never taste good enough to me, lol, but I made no adjustments to yours. It was perfect! Definitely better than our local cupcake shop! Your recipes never let me down!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Maegan. 🙂
Jeanne
This frosting was easy to make but I didn’t love it. I felt that it was too sweet and I only used 2 cups of sugar! Additionally, I didn’t think it had enough peanut butter flavor.
Cierra
I actually ended up having a good amount of extra frosting! Maybe I just don’t frost liberally or something but I ended up using the rest to frost a small cake. All in all everyone loves this recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds like you put it to good use, Cierra! We’re so happy it was such a hit for you 😊
Wendy
Excellent! Everyone raves about it!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That’s great–sounds like it’s a real hit for you, Wendy! Thanks so much for your review ❤
Christine Krause
This was perfect, light and fluffy and full of peanut butter flavor. Better than another peanut butter frosting recipe I have tried. This will be my new go to. Thank you!
abbie
Great frosting, the recipe is a keeper!
Mike
Can I make this in advance and store in the fridge for a couple nights?
Sam
Yup! Store in an airtight container, then you’ll need to let it sit at room temperature to soften enough to be spreadable before using (you also may need to stir it again before using). Enjoy!
Jody
Best peanut butter frosting ever!
Sandie
This is the BEST PB frosting I have tried – I think the salt makes an interesting difference.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you like it, Sandie! Thanks for your review 🙂
Sarah
This frosting is the fluffiest most smooth and delicious frosting ever! I’m not a huge fan of peanut butter but let me tell you…..better believe I licked that spatula CLEAN afterwards!! 😋 Absolutely perfect recipe! Thank you!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We 100% endorse spoon licking here, Sarah! 😉 We’re so happy you love our recipe so much ❤
Judy
Sounds delicious. Just wondering if this frosting would be suitable for macaron filling? Does it firm up in the fridge?
Sam
Hi Judy! It’s a pretty firm frosting already. It will work in a macaron if you would like to use it. 🙂
Judy
Great, thanks.
Bob
This recipe changed my life. It was so good that I almost died. I will for sure use this recipe again.
Cher
My daughter and I loved this frosting. We used Trader Joe’s unsalted natural peanut butter and worked perfectly. No separating.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for letting us know how it turned out for you, Cher! Enjoy 😊