Peanut Butter Frosting on Chocolate Cake:
Thick, fluffy, easy, creamy peanut butter frosting, perfect for topping chocolate cupcakes, cakes, using in whoopie pies, or to eat with a spoon!
The ultimate in luxurious, smooth, creamy, thick, delicious frosting. This peanut butter frosting is not overly sweet, and actually tastes like peanut butter and is beautifully pipable making it great for cakes or cupcakes!
Pair it with this chocolate buttercream for the perfect chocolate and peanut butter combo.
Peanut Butter Frosting: I mean can you see how amazing this peanut butter buttercream frosting actually is?
I have a friend who owns a bakery, and she has even won Cupcake Wars. Anyway, she makes these peanut butter cupcakes that are to die for. I seriously love them, and want one every day. I could never figure out how she got her peanut butter frosting to taste so much like peanut butter while still having that lighter, whipped, frosting like feel.
Every time I tried to make a peanut butter frosting it was either too oily, or it tasted more like confectioner’s sugar than peanut butter.
So I tested and tested, until I reached perfection. This is the result, and the rave reviews on Pinterest show it is right on. This is exactly the way I like my frosting. Thick, but light. And tasting like peanut butter.
Peanut Butter Frosting Uses
Beyond cakes and cupcakes, there are tons of fun ways to use this Peanut Butter Frosting or the enhance it:
- Stuff cookies or cupcakes with it. Or top an entire sheet cake.
- Use it as a layer in between chocolate cake. Or just frost the whole outside of the chocolate cake with it.
- Top some fudge brownies with it.
- Stir it into cooked oatmeal for a sweet breakfast treat or even into yogurt.
- Use it to fill sweet rolls
- Or my preferred method, and reason for wearing sweat pants most days 😜…eat it straight up with a spoon!
Dressing up cakes and cupcakes:
After you have this tasty homemade peanut butter frosting on your cakes and cupcakes, here are a few ideas for making it even more fun.
- Cut a Reese’s in half and stick it on top of the frosting!
- Drizzle it with chocolate.
- Dip in a chocolate ganache or chocolate fudge sauce.
What Kind of Peanut Butter Should You Use?
What kind of peanut butter? Chunky or creamy, natural or not? Does it even matter?
It absolutely matters.
You want to use a creamy peanut butter like Jif. Not natural.
The amount of oil is different, the sugar content is different, and the consistency is different. You want to make sure it is pipable, so you do not want a chunky peanut butter. It will be a thick, but fluffy frosting in the end.
How to Make it Thicker/Thinner?
This peanut butter frosting has gotten rave reviews across Pinterest, and is a classic icing.
Some have mentioned it is a thicker frosting than they would like, so if you plan to use this peanut butter frosting to frost a cake, thin it out some.
For cupcakes, it is the perfect topper as is!
How to thin it?
Add some heavy cream or milk and whip.
This easy peanut butter frosting recipe is meant to be thick, but when making a layer cake or a cake roll, you will definitely want a thinner frosting so you can cover the whole cake. To achieve the desired consistency you will want to gradually add heavy whipping cream or milk to your frosting while whipping in a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer.
How to make it thicker?
Truthfully, you probably won’t need it to be thicker. It is very pipable as is, especially if you want a nice swirl. This is not the frosting recipe for detailed piping. However, if you want to thicken it up you have a few options:
- Refrigerate it. The main ingredients are butter and peanut butter, both of which naturally thicken when chilled. So chill it to get a thicker consistency.
- Add more confectioner’s sugar. The only warning is that if you add confectioner’s sugar, you will change the flavor. And remember, the beauty of this recipe is how it actually tastes like peanut butter and isn’t cloyingly sweet or sugary.
Peanut Butter Frosting Tips:
- Taste and adjust as needed. This is your peanutbutter frosting, make it how you like it. Every peanut butter is different. Some have a higher oil content, or more sugar, etc. So while this recipe is tested and true, it may not be perfect for you if your peanut butter is too different from mine. I used Jif Creamy Peanut Butter.
- Adjust liquid amounts as needed. Again, different peanut butter has different consistency. So adjust to get the consistency you prefer.
- Use room temp butter. You want the butter to be soft, but not so soft that it is going to be runny. So slightly chilled (but still mixable) or just room temperature butter is perfect for Peanut Butter Frosting.
- Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to get the smooth creaminess! A hand or stand mixer will whip air into your peanut butter icing making it light and airy.
- Can you fix separated frosting? You can! But the tricky thing is that how to fix it depends on why it separated. The most common reason is your butter was too warm. So pop your icing into the fridge for 20 minutes, then whip it again with a little heavy cream.
How to Store Whipped Peanut Butter Frosting
Does it have to be refrigerated?
One of the biggest questions I get with this recipe is how should you store the frosting?
This recipe has butter and peanut butter as the main ingredients, but it does contain heavy cream or milk too.
If serving same day, you can leave it out of the refrigerator, but not in a hot place. The butter and peanut butter will get runnier if you leave it out in heat, making it too soft.
If serving later, refrigerate. Just pull it out of your fridge 30 minutes before serving.
Before you frost your cupcakes/cake:
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before piping.
- Store up to a week, and if it is too dry or thick, add heavy cream and whip before adding to cakes or cupcakes.
After you frost your cupcakes/cake:
Be careful not to dry out your cake by storing in the refrigerator. If you pre-frost cupcakes, put in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.
Alternative Ingredients
Can you make it without butter?
If you want to make these dairy free or vegan, you can replace the butter with crisco or vegetable shortening. It will change the flavor, so if you choose to do this, be sure to taste as you go and add extra peanut butter or confectioner’s sugar as you need for your preference.
Do not use coconut oil or coconut shortening as it changes the flavor too much.
Can you make it without milk?
The milk is needed to thin out the frosting and make it creamy. But that doesn’t mean you can’t replace it with a vegan alternative.
As peanut butter is nut based, replace cow’s milk or cream with a nut milk, this is not a bad alternative. However, it won’t be as creamy, as the heavy cream or milk helps add some creaminess. So keep this in mind when making this adjustment.
How many cupcakes or cakes will this frosting cover?
This recipe for peanut butter frosting will ice 18 cupcakes, or 12 liberally.
I like a big pile of peanut butter frosting, so for me it frosts fewer cupcakes.
It will also cover 1 layer cake on the exterior with a thin layer of icing between cake layers. However, you will need to thin the frosting out to achieve this. See above for instructions.
How to Make This Peanut Butter Frosting Recipe
Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients
Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups peanut butter at room temp
- 1/2 c butter softened, room temp
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups powder sugar
- 2-3 Tbs heavy cream or 2% milk
Instructions
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, using hand mixer or stand mixer, cream together room temperature peanut butter and butter.
- Add in the vanilla and powder sugar, and mix to combine.
- Add in heavy/milk to get to the consistency you want. More or less according to preference of thickness and consistency.
- Taste, adjust according to taste.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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Be sure to check out the other fun desserts and snacks on EZPZ Mealz
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Becky Hardin says
Oh I could eat this frosting by the spoonful! Yum!
Diane says
When I make any peanut butter icing, I never use milk. I have always used water, that way i don’t have to worry about it going bad. I have never had any problems using water.
Rachael says
Good to know. I will have to try that!
heather says
Forget the cake, I love this frosting right out of the bowl 🙂 Made this for my husband’s birthday cake and everyone loved!!
Natalie says
Give me a spoon!!! This frosting is the creamiest. I’d love it on cookies, brownies, cake..you name it!
Stephanie says
This frosting was perfect! I put it on a batch of chocolate cupcakes and I ate way too many!
Pamela says
Could you use heavy whipping cream instead of
Or heavy cream?
Rachael says
Yes you sure can!
Pamela says
Can you use heavy whipping cream instead?
Rachael says
Yes! Go for it.
Judy Wasson says
This has become my all time favorite frosting! I do use chunky peanut butter when I am not piping it onto a cake.
This frosting is delicious on a chocolate chip banana cake.
Suzanne says
This looks so good! Thanks for sharing all the sensativity/allergy modifications too!
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! It would be fun to dip Oreos into also!
Elyce says
Does the peanut butter frosting freeze well atop peanut butter blossom cookies?
Rachael says
Yes! Freezes really nicely.