4.97 from 623 votes

Peanut Butter Frosting

Name: Peanut Butter Frosting
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1 cup unsalted butter ( softened to room temperature); 1 cup creamy peanut butter; 3 cups powdered sugar; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; ½ teaspoon salt; 2 Tablespoons milk

By Sam MerrittPublished May 04, 2018

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1,101 Comments

Servings: 12 generously frosted cupcakes or 24 modestly frosted cupcakes

10 mins

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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!

Peanut butter frosting on a chocolate cupcake

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.

peanut butter frosting in a piping bag

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 1/2-1 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!

peanut butter frosting on a chocolate cupcake

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

4.97 from 623 votes

Peanut Butter Frosting

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!

Prep: 10

Total: 10

Servings: generously frosted cupcakes or 24 modestly frosted cupcakes

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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.