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.
Tara Connors
Just made it for my husband’s birthday cupcakes – I received messages for days saying how delicious the frosting was – highly recommend! I used Peter Pan peanut butter
Patty
Made this icing to top basic chocolate brownies.
Well…….that’s the ticket!!
Thank you for this recipe.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum! That sounds heavenly. Enjoy, Patty!
Jeff
Me too. I want to try this.
Byrdie
😁 that’s the whole reason I looked up this recipe. Great minds !!
Helen
Just finished make this icing. Delicious and easy to make. A delicious light and fluff peanut butter icing for a chocolate cake. I wanted to just eat the bowl of icing.
Heather Dolan
My dad loved banana cake with peanut butter frosting. I’m going to use your recipe in honor of my dad.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We hope our recipe brings back some sweet memories for you, Heather ❤️
Lisa
Will this frosting keep in the fridge for a week?
PS-I’ve made it several times and it’s 10/10!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes! Thanks so much for trusting our recipe, Lisa 🥰
SD
Would it be ok/better to use heavy whipping cream in place of the milk ?
SD
I just noticed in other comments that heavy whipping cream was used, so I believe I have my answer !
Sue
I’m looking for a peanut butter frosting that will be silky yet able to hold up between 2 peanut butter cookies, for cookie sandwiches. Do you think this is a good frosting for that? Thank you
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Sue! This recipe will work nicely for that 😊 Enjoy!
Abby
My favorite frosting ever! I have my ingredients out because I’m making a cake in the morning!! I can’t wait!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for the review, Abby! Enjoy that frosting 😋
Liz
Thank you for this recipe! I used Teddy smooth and it was great. I could actually use less sugar which is awesome too. Lots of compliments and honestly it was to die for. Paired with your cupcake recipe! Now – have you tried freezing it? I have so much frosting left and might give that a shot
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I haven’t tried freezing it, but I don’t foresee any issues doing so. 🙂
Mimi
The flavor was amazing however it was not spreadable
what did I do wrong or what should I change?
Thanks!
Sam
Hi Mimi! Was it just too thick? A splash of cream or milk would help with this, add a Tablespoon at a time and stir well after each Tablespoon until you have a smooth, spreadable consistency. I hope this helps! 🙂
Adina
I just made and had to add a LOT more cream. I made with a cup less sugar and almost a full cup of heavy whipping cream. Mine topped a cheesecake
Marge
Would you be able to sub the pb with cookie butter?
Sam
Hi Marge! I haven’t tried it so I can’t honestly say how it would go. I have had issues with cookie butter making things grainy and separating so I’d be hesitant to try it.
Bianca
If there is one thing I’m awful at, it’s butter based frostings…but but butter based is all that was coming up in my searches. This had the tastiest looking picture so I figured….let’s see!
Came out great, as my star rating may indicate 🙂 Fluffy, delicious, honestly had no problem with spreadability even before adding the milk (I used oak milk I reckon it made zero difference)
Also, I halved the recipe as a walnut cake I made last night needed a little something extra, and didn’t need a load of frosting.
This is great and has cured my fear of making butter based frosting
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you decided to try our recipe, Bianca! Let us know if you happen to try any of our other frostings; we do have several that aren’t butter-based if that issue ever crops up again 😊
Tracy
Thank you so much!!! In a panic while making my grandson birthday cake, tried an Italian peanutbutter butter cream and it was a disaster!!! Jumped to this made it quick and it’s terrific!!!! Again, thank you for saving the day!!!
Lele
Bro this recipe is perfect
I’m an amateur baker to say the least and this took almost no time at all. Even issuing a manual hand mixer, it came out fluffy and tastes awesome
I’m so excited. Def will recommend to people
Brooke
This. Is. Amazing. The perfect remedy for a boring chocolate cake – from a BOX *gasp* – because you have cake mix you need to use up. The texture is perfect! I’ve made this for cupcakes, brownies, basic chocolate cake, and even just because… I wanted to eat it by itself. To me, cake is really just a holder for frosting, because I don’t love cake. This frosting is truly the CENTERPIECE, screw the cake! 😉
Jessica
Yes!
Karen Lattierre
This is the best peanut butter frosting I have ever had! It is my new go-to peanut butter frosting, creamy, smooth, easy to spread and simply light and delicious.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you love it, Karen! Thanks for your review ❤️
Jessica
Would unsweetened almond milk be okay to use as opposed to cow’s milk? Thanks!
Sam
Yes that would be fine. I would start with slightly less in case it’s thinner and then add more as needed. Enjoy!
Nicole
I only had natural peanut butter so I tried it with some PB2 (a mix of ground peanuts, salt and sugar) hoping that would absorb any of the excess oiliness, and it worked great. Thanks for the delicious recipe!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for letting us know how that worked for you, Nicole! ❤️
Stef
Hands down the best, most velvety smooth, not overly sweet pb frosting ever!!! It’s perfect. It held its shape and everyone loved it. If you start altering the recipe don’t even rate it because it perfect as written. Follow it and you cannot go wrong. 10/10
Julia lagerhausen
Absolutely wonderful peanut butter frosting.i used it for cup cakes for my grandsons wedding. I did a line of chocolate frosting (made from scratch) and a line of the peanut butter frosting on golden cupcakes with a piping bag. They were so pretty. Every one loved them. I added chopped peanuts to the tops so people could see there was peanuts in the cupcakes incase they had an allergy.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
They sound divine, Julia! We’re so happy this was a hit for you 😊
Kayla
Made this to top chocolate cupcakes. It was PHENOMENAL! Such a delicious flavor and so simple to make. It piped great on cupcakes. I did use heavy whipping cream in place of milk. Thanks!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum, we love that combination! Enjoy, Kayla 😋
Katelin Nasatka
Love this recipe. My dad is super picky peanut butter frostings but this one was his absolute favorite. Super easy to make and tastes delicious!