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 frostingย (<—- 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 ๐ญ
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.
- Iย 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 certainย 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 ยฝ-1 cup (65-125g) of powdered sugar.
How Many Cupcakes/How Much Cake Will this Peanut Butter Frosting Cover?
- If you’reย generouslyย 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
- ยฝ 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 โ 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.ย3 cups (375 g) powdered sugar
- Stir in vanilla extract and salt.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ยฝ 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.ยNutrition
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.
Donna A Pollock
Oh my goodness, This is The best Peanut butter Frosting I have ever made. My cupcakes turned out great and this Frosting is a hit. They will be served on Saturday for The 4th of July Party. They came out just beautiful with plenty of frosting, just like I like them…
Ree
Made a double batch for 2 cakes and it was a hit! So fluffy and not heavy at all
Barbara H
This is the best peanut butter frosting ever. so creamy.
Kass
Iโm not sure why every peanut butter frosting recipe online says not to use natural peanut butter, without even testing it. Peanut butter is often stabilized with solid fats like palm oil, so youโre basically making a stabilized peanut butter when you mix it with the butter. And yes, it works just fine. And tastes amazing!!
Sam
Thanks Kass! I tested the recipe with two different kinds of natural peanut butter today and it did work just fine. In my past experience, natural peanut butter has not worked well in many of my other baked goods so I always advise people that I haven’t tried it and can make no guarantees. I will add a note to the recipe.
Bec
How can I tweak this for high heat piping using high ratio shortening? Sweetex
Sam
Hi Bec! Unfortunately I don’t know how it will work. Maybe someone else can chime in with some help.
Laurel Bakker
Simply replace the butter with the Sweetex. โบ๏ธ
Becky
Extra creamy and tastes delicious. Can add more confectionery sugar(powder sugar) to make it firmer and set up. I spread mine on chocolate brownies. Yummy!!
Danielle
Would this recipe keep in the fridge for 2 weeks?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Danielle! We recommend storing for a week ๐
Eevee Magrans
Delicious
Deven
This frosting was east and taste good but for some reason mine turned out to be thin.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Deven! Was your butter very soft? That could have been the issue. You can always add a little more powdered sugar to help thicken it up. Hope this helps ๐
Deven
One stick might have been. I ended up sticking it in the fridge for a little while after I frosted my cake and it helped.
Elizabeth
This is delicious! I had no unsalted butter, so just used the lightly salted that I had & omitted the other salt. I’ll definitely be making again, just not too often as I suspect it’s dangerous to have around! ๐
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
It certainly is, Elizabeth! ๐ Enjoy!
AP
Hey thanks for the recipe!! If I make cupcakes with the frosting can I leave them out overnight or do they require refrigeration?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi AP! This frosting does not need to be refrigerated, but we’re not sure about the cupcakes as we donโt know what recipe youโd be using. Hope that helps! ๐
Arti Patel
This does help ๐ Topped off my chocolate/chocolate chip cupcakes with this frosting and wow itโs stunning. Thank you!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Wonderful! Those sound amazing, Arti ๐
Nadine
Sooooooo good. Perfect with chocolate cake and m&m’s on top for garnish.
Jodi knotts
I used Crazy Richard creamy which is a natural peanut butter (the kind you have to stir) and only used 1/2 c because it is much more peanutty tasting than the normal peanut butter. It was amazingโฆtruly amazing! I used it as filling in a homemade peanut butter cake with fudge frosting and all of the components were delicious but this peanut butter frosting was what got all of the raves!
Arien Stoiber-Alde
Fantastic! Not too sweet, not to oily!
Marisa Messer
Can you use shortening in place of butter?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Marisa! We havenโt tried it but think it could work here ๐
Megan
I’ve had peanut butter frosting that has a more peanut butter flavor. But this frosting is very fluffy and it is a lot of frosting it leaves a very thick layer of frosting on a 9×13 pan
Sue
Marisa, that is what I do. I use the Wiltonโs buttercream frosting recipe and instead of the butter I use the same butter measurement and substitute shortening. Also, if you use water instead of milk you do not have to refrigerate it.
Andrea
How long does this frosting stay good in the refrigerator?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Andrea! We recommend storing for a week ๐