Peanut Butter Buttercream Recipe (2024)

This Peanut Butter Buttercream Recipe is one of my all-time FAVORITE frosting recipes.

It makes the most wonderful peanut butter filling and frosting for chocolate cakes and cupcakes. You will love the peanut butter flavor, the light and fluffy consistency, and how easily it pipes!

Not only does this peanut butterfrosting taste fantastic, butthe recipe is incredibly easy to throw together. Really, you're just minutes away from this deliciousness!!

Table of Contents

Favorite Frostings for Chocolate Cakes

Chocolate cake pairs amazingly wellwith so many frostings, but this peanut butter buttercream is definitely in my top three.

For me, it's a three-way tie between Chocolate & Peanut butter (Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cake Mix), Chocolate and Mint (Mint Chocolate Chip Cake) and chocolate & coconut (Almond Joy Cake) I could never pick a favorite, but I highly recommend making each combo as often as possible (for comparison & research purposes of course!)

When your peanut butter cravings strike, this is the frosting that you. need!

Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate are the Perfect Combination

Okay, let's get back to the star of our post. There are countlessreasons to love this recipe. This peanut butter frosting is perfectly peanut buttery,has a delightfully silky texture, and if you are a fan of the Viva Paper Towel Method of smoothing, it smooths exceptionally well.

There's no better match for peanut butter frosting than a delicious chocolate cake, is there? You have the sweet and salty flavors from the peanut butter buttercream, and the rich decadenceof the chocolate cake. Perfection!

I absolutely love peanut butter buttercreamswirled high onto cupcakes, sandwiched in between layers of rich chocolate cake, or injected into the centers of chocolate cupcakes to make themeven more irresistible.

How to Inject buttercream filling into cupcakes

When I make cupcakes, I often fill the centers with a filling--sometime's it's the same as the swirled frosting on top, and other times I go with a different flavor.

I love this peanut butter buttercream frosting so much that I try to incorporate as much as possible!

To inject our peanut butter buttercream frosting into chocolate cupcakes as a filling, simply load a disposable piping bag with peanut butter frosting, snip away the tip, and insert right into the center of the unfrosted cupcake (about halfway down).

Give the piping bag a squeeze for 2-3 seconds, and you're done! If you don't have a practice cupcake to practice on, you can do a quick trial run on a plate just to get an idea of how much buttercream comes out of the bag in 2-3 seconds, and adjust to your liking! ;0)

How to Make peanut butter chocolate chip frosting

For a little variation (especially when using this as a filling for a chocolate layer cake) I love to stir in mini chocolate chips! Keep in mind that mini chips won't fit through small or closed star piping tips if you are planning to do any piping.

I will warn you that this frosting isHIGHLY addictive...and you may have to hide the bowl immediately after mixing up a batch.

The peanut butter frosting is a much lighter consistency than straight peanut butter, so you can easily get carried away with sampling. I know that I always do. Make it once and it'll be your go-to peanut butter buttercream frosting for life! YUM.

Step away from the All Natural Peanut Butter!

*One important thing to remember when choosing your Peanut Butter for this recipe is that "natural" peanut butter doesn't work as well.

At least, the ones that we've experimented with over the years haven't worked as well. You can still use it if you must, the taste is still good, but the consistency isn't nearly as smooth.

I recommend peanut butter brands like JIF, Peter Pan, etc. (Oh, and buy creamy not crunchy- haha)

Peanut Butter Buttercream with Chocolate Cake is the BEST! Here are our favorite Chocolate Cake & Cupcake Recipes!

Looking for the BEST chocolate cake or cupcake recipe? Make sure to save these tried and true favorites! We love our

Scratch Classic Chocolate Cake

Scratch Chocolate Cupcake recipe,

Homemade Devil's Food Cake Recipe

Scratch Chocolate Sour Cream Cake

Chocolate Sour Cream Cake from a Mix

Chocolate Cake from a Mix

Milk Chocolate Cake

Enjoy!

How to Make Peanut Butter Frosting

In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and mix on medium until butter is soft and smooth. Next, add the peanut butter and mix!

Next, add the powdered sugar a little at a time, alternating with the milk. Add the vanilla, and mix for 4-5 minutes until nice and smooth!

That's it! It doesn't get much simpler, but trust me, this recipe is the BEST!

Another Peanut Butter Frosting to Love

Update! We now have another Peanut Butter Frosting to love. Add this creamy Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting to your must-try recipe list also! You need both of these recipes in your life ;0) We used it with our Peanut Butter Cake (doctored cake mix) Recipe!

Peanut Butter Buttercream

This amazing peanut butter buttercream frosting tastes amazing and is SO easy to make! We love it with chocolate cakes and cupcakesQ!

Ingredients

1 cup ( 255 grams) Creamy Peanut Butter Do Not Use Natural or Reduced Fat. We have used Jif and Peter Pan Creamy brands.
2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
4 c. (460g) powdered sugar
¼ cup (60g) milk plus 2 Tablespoon - use more if needed to reach the consistency you like
2 teaspoons ( 8 grams ) vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Instructions

In the bowl of your mixer add the butter and mix on medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth. Add the peanut butter and mix until blended.
Gradually add the powdered sugar alternately with the milk. Add vanilla. Mix on medium speed 4 to 5 minutes until smooth.
***Peanut butter brands labeled "Natural" that I have tried donot work as well with this recipe because the consistency isn't as smooth & creamy.I've used Jif & Peter Pan (Creamy) with good results!

Here is the cake version of our peanut butter cupcakes pictured above! Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cake is ALWAYSa crowd pleaser!

If you like Peanut Butter recipes, you MUST try our amazing Peanut Butter Cake recipe! Moist and flavorful peanut butter cake layers with this amazing peanut butter frosting (and ganache drip). It's one of our favorites!: Peanut Butter Cake Recipe

Don't miss our full roundup of our popular cake and frosting recipes in our Cake Recipes and Tutorials Section!

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FAQs

Why is my peanut butter frosting not smooth? ›

Make sure the butter is softened to cool room temperature before you begin. If the frosting separates and looks grainy, it's most likely because the butter is too cold. Place the bowl in a warm spot for a few minutes, and then beat it again for a minute or two. It should come back together.

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Why is my peanut butter frosting separating? ›

Notes. Peanut Butter: Use a commercial brand peanut butter such Skippy or Jif. Avoid natural, oily, or homemade peanut butters as the consistency will cause this frosting to separate and curdle.

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Can you dye peanut butter buttercream? ›

If adding color, go ahead and place the peanut butter buttercream into individual bowls & add in desired shades of gel food coloring.

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What's the difference between buttercream and frosting? ›

The best way to distinguish frosting from buttercream is through the ingredients. While both contain powdered sugar, fat, flavouring and sometimes milk or water, frosting does not contain any butter whatsoever. Instead, frosting is usually made with shortening or cream cheese.

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How do you make buttercream smooth and not grainy? ›

If the buttercream is still grainy, you can try warming it up over a double boiler or adding a little bit of heavy cream. It's important to find the right balance of ingredients when making any kind of buttercream. Too much sugar or not enough liquid can cause the buttercream to break or become too gritty.

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Can you overbeat buttercream? ›

Try not to overbeat the buttercream after all the ingredients have been added or you might add bubbles, which will ruin the texture of the icing. ... For the best results chill your cake and bring the icing to room temperature. You can also beat the buttercream for a few minutes to create great fluffy texture.

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How do you blend separated peanut butter? ›

The Spoon Method: The go-to method, wherein you take a spoon or a knife and stir (and stir and stir) the oil and solids together until the peanut butter is once again hom*ogenous.

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Can you fix split buttercream? ›

Both issues can be fixed either chilling or gently heating the buttercream. A slightly softened yet cool butter will bring the buttercream together and give it smooth texture for frosting cakes. Frosting with Swiss meringue buttercream gives a super smooth finish and sharp piping.

What buttercream do professional bakers use? ›

Swiss meringue buttercream is probably the most standard buttercream for pastry professionals. It is incredibly smooth, making it an extremely popular choice for icing cakes.

How to make vibrant buttercream? ›

Read It!

Gel Food Coloring. Add a couple drops of food coloring into your microwave safe bowl full of white buttercream and stir well to combine. ...
Heat it Up. Microwave the bowl for 6-8 seconds. ...
Voila! Once your base is super deeply colored, you can add it to the rest of your buttercream and stir to combine!

Jun 1, 2022

Can you tint peanut butter frosting? ›

The color is a light latté color and can be tinted most darker shades.

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Why is my homemade peanut butter not smooth? ›

Make sure you stop the processor every 30 seconds to 1 minute to scrape down the sides of the bowl. At first, the peanuts might become chunky, but they get smoother and runny as you blend them. Don't worry, the butter will thicken when it comes to room temperature.

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What can I add to frosting to make it smoother? ›

If the doctored frosting is too thick or stiff to spread, start by beating with a mixer on high speed to incorporate air, and if that isn't sufficient, beat in milk, cream, coffee, or even flavored coffee creamer 1 tablespoon at a time.

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Why is my homemade peanut butter gritty? ›

Homemade peanut butter will always have a rougher texture than the commercially-prepared stuff. That being said, you can achieve creamier peanut butter with a few tips: Use a good-quality food processor. A powerful food processor or blender will make a difference.

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What gives peanut butter its texture? ›

As mentioned above, conventional peanut butters are made with fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, which help stabilize the peanut butter, prevent it from separating due to time or temperature, and give it that smooth, hom*ogenous, creamy texture.

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