Easy Peanut Butter Frosting Recipe

This peanut butter frosting is a no-cook buttercream made from 1 cup creamy peanut butter, ½ cup softened unsalted butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, vanilla, a pinch of salt and 2 to 4 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. It takes about 10 minutes with a hand mixer and frosts 12 cupcakes.

The part that decides how it turns out is the cream. It goes in last, starting with 2 tablespoons, and every extra spoonful moves the frosting from a stiff swirl that pipes to a soft layer you can spread over brownies.

The Ratio Behind This Peanut Butter Frosting

By volume the frosting is 2 parts peanut butter to 1 part butter to 4 parts powdered sugar. The peanut butter brings flavor and most of the body, the butter makes it light when beaten, and the sugar gives it structure.

• Peanut butter: 1 cup (240 g) creamy, from a regular jar
• Butter: ½ cup (113 g) unsalted, softened
• Powdered sugar: 2 cups (240 g)
• Liquid: 2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk to start, up to 4
• Time: about 10 minutes, no stove
• Makes: enough for 12 cupcakes

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Use a Regular Jar of Creamy Peanut Butter

Reach for a stir-free jar like Jif or Skippy. Those brands contain a little stabilizer that keeps the peanut oil bound into the butter, so the frosting stays fluffy. Natural peanut butter separates. The oil seeps back out as you beat it, and you end up with a frosting that looks wet and slides off the cupcake.

Creamy beats crunchy here too. The bits of peanut catch in a piping tip and make the swirl ragged. If you want crunch, scatter chopped roasted peanuts over the top once the cupcakes are frosted.

Most jarred peanut butter is already salted. Taste a spoonful of the finished frosting before you add the ¼ teaspoon of salt, and leave it out if the peanut flavor already tastes seasoned. Unsalted butter keeps that choice in your hands.

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Making Peanut Butter Frosting Step by Step

Start with the butter at about 65°F. Press it with a finger: it should leave a dent while the stick still holds its shape. Beat it with the peanut butter on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes, until the two look like one smooth, paler paste with no streaks of yellow. That is the same first step as my peanut butter icing, which is the softer, spreadable cousin of this frosting.

Add the powdered sugar about ½ cup at a time on low speed and scrape the bowl between additions. Dump it in all at once and you get a cloud of sugar and dry pockets at the bottom of the bowl. When it is all in, mix in the vanilla and the salt if you are using it.

Now add 2 tablespoons of cream and beat on medium-high for 1 to 2 minutes, until the frosting turns lighter in color and fluffy. Check it with a knife. Swipe some across a plate: if the ridges hold but the surface looks smooth, it is ready to pipe. For spreading, add more cream 1 tablespoon at a time.

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Heavy Cream or Milk in Peanut Butter Frosting?

Both work, and the card lists either one. They just give you two different frostings.

• Heavy cream: holds more air, so the frosting is fluffier and stands up in a piped swirl or between cake layers.
• Milk: thins it faster and gives a smoother, glossier spread with less height, which is what you want on brownies or a sheet cake.
• Either way: start with 2 tablespoons. It is easy to loosen a stiff frosting and slow to firm up a runny one.

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How Much Frosting for Cupcakes, Cakes and Brownies

One batch covers 12 cupcakes with a tall swirl, the top of a 9×13 sheet cake, or a pan of fudgy brownies in a thick layer. To fill and frost a two layer 8 or 9 inch cake, make a double batch so you are not scraping the bowl for the sides.

It goes best with chocolate. Pipe it onto chocolate cupcakes, spread it over a Reese’s peanut butter cake, or use it between layers of banana cake. For a two-tone swirl, spoon this frosting down one side of a piping bag and chocolate frosting down the other, then pipe as usual.

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When Peanut Butter Frosting Turns Greasy, Gritty or Stiff

• Greasy and slack: the butter was too warm or the kitchen is hot. Put the whole bowl in the fridge for 15 minutes, then beat again. Do not keep adding sugar to fix it.
• Gritty: the sugar has not blended into the fat yet. Beat 1 more minute with a teaspoon of cream.
• Too stiff to pipe: add cream a teaspoon at a time, beating between each.
• Too soft: beat in 2 to 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar, or chill it for 10 minutes.
• Oily streaks: natural peanut butter was used. Chilling helps a little, but a stir-free jar is the real fix.
• Tastes flat: a pinch of salt or a few drops of vanilla does more than more sugar.

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Making It Ahead and Rewhipping

Spoon leftover frosting into an airtight container and keep it in the fridge for up to 1 week. It firms up like cold butter. Leave it on the counter for about 30 minutes, then beat it for a minute, adding a spoonful of cream if it still feels stiff. It also freezes well for up to 3 months; thaw it overnight in the fridge before you rewhip it.

Frosted cupcakes are fine covered at cool room temperature for the day of a party. In a warm kitchen, chill them for 15 minutes so the swirls set before you carry them anywhere.

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Swaps and Questions

Is peanut butter frosting the same as peanut butter icing?

Most people use the words for the same thing. This frosting is the fluffier one for piping; for a softer spread, the peanut butter icing uses a little more cream.

Can I make peanut butter frosting without powdered sugar?

Not with this recipe, because the powdered sugar gives it body. For a frosting without it, beat peanut butter into a cooked milk and flour base like this ermine frosting.

Can I add cream cheese?

Yes. Beating in some softened cream cheese makes it tangier and a little less sweet, closer to a cream cheese frosting. Keep anything frosted with it in the fridge.

Can I use crunchy peanut butter?

For spreading, yes. For piping, no: the peanut pieces clog the tip.

Looking for something to put it on? The peanut butter desserts collection has cakes, bars and cookies built around the same flavor.