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 unsalted butter softened to room temperature (226g)
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter (245g)
- 3 cups powdered sugar (375g)
- 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.
- 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.
- Stir in vanilla extract and salt.
- With mixer on low-speed, add milk and stir until well-combined. Gradually increase speed to high and beat for 30 seconds.
- Spread or pipe frosting onto completely cooled cupcakes or cake.
Nicole
Really nice recipe..!
Jodi
Wow, this frosting is great. I made a few changes to it as I didn’t want it to be too sweet on the banana chocolate chip cake I was making since I put a look of chocolate chips in it. I added 2 cups of icing sugar instead of 3, and use Jif crunchy peanut butter which added an awesome crunch to it. There was quite a lot left over which tastes really delicious with raspberry sorbet! It’s like peanut butter and jelly! Thanks so much for this f!antastic recipe!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you loved this frosting, Jodi! 😊
JM
My youngest daughter used this frosting for a triple layer chocolate cake it was SO GOOD! She made the cake a second time using this frosting and decorated the top to look like a lion for the 4-H cake auction. Thank you for sharing!
Cynthia
Well, this is the best pb frosting recipe, ever!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are happy you loved it, Cynthia! ❤️
Chrissy
Do you recommend refrigeration if you make it a day ahead?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Chrissy! Yes, we recommend storing the peanut butter icing in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use. We hope you love it! ❤️
Valerie
Does this need refrigerated?
Sam
Hi Valerie! If I am not consuming within 2 days I typically refrigerate.
Leslie Tappe
I just made this frosting and it’s so good! I used it on a pan of Betty Crocker Brownies. It was perfect! I will be making this again.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Leslie! 🙂
Dawn
What kind of Peanut butter do you recommend? I only ever used natural and, your right, it gets very oily. What brand is best?
Sam
Hi Dawn! Since I don’t recommend the natural peanut butter here, pretty much any brand will work. I have lots of success with JIF. 🙂
Margaret
I only have salted butter,Can I use that an leave out the salt?
Sam
Hi Margaret! That will work just fine. 🙂
Natalie
How long will this hold in room temp? or does it have to be in the fridge? Making this a head of time for a camping trip!
Sam
Hi Natalie! It should be ok at room temperature for a couple of days. 🙂
Kristin
Perfect fluffy icing. Makes a ton fir a single batch. Nice for piping.
Katie
Really good recipe, It kind of tastes like the inside of a peanut butter cup! Perfect texture for frosting.