How to Make Delicious Peanut Butter Buttercream

Smooth, creamy, peanut buttery buttercream. It’s as dreamy as it sounds and such a fun flavor to add to any dessert!

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

This peanut butter buttercream was developed with my dear friend, Juli Roth, in mind. I got to attend her baby shower in Denver, CO, and had the honor of bringing the cake, plus a few fun mocktails. In honor of celebrating Juli and her sweet baby, I asked her what flavors she was craving, and she said she loves chocolate peanut butter. So that’s exactly what I made, and thus the peanut butter buttercream was born. 

It’s perfectly creamy and mouth wateringly delicious. Seriously, good enough just to eat by the spoonful, even better on top of fudgy, chocolate cake, and it doesn’t take a lot of effort to pull together. It may just become your new go-to frosting!

What is Buttercream?

Buttercream, in the most basic terms, is butter and some type of sugar that have been creamed together. It is generally used for piping designs on cakes, cookies, and cupcakes or for filling the inside of pastries or cakes. It can also be used to create a crumb coat on a cake, which is a thin layer of frosting that helps “lock in” the crumbs so that they don’t get into the final coating of frosting when decorating. 

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Buttercream

The ingredients are simple and straightforward and might even already be in your kitchen. Here’s what you’ll need to make the tastiest peanut butter buttercream:

• 1 pound of softened butter 
• ⅔ cup of natural peanut butter
• 3 cups of powdered sugar 
• ¼ cup of heavy cream

Ingredient Modifications

• Make it dairy free – use a vegan butter and coconut cream to make this buttercream dairy free. 
• Change the flavor profile – if you want to change things up, try a chocolate buttercream or cream cheese frosting.

What Peanut Butter is Best for Frosting?

It is best to use a natural, creamy peanut butter (without the addition of stabilizers of other oils, like palm oil) for this frosting. This allows for the peanut butter to blend/combine smoothest with the other ingredients. 

How to Make Peanut Butter Frosting

The process for making this creamy, nutty frosting couldn’t be easier. Here’s how you’ll make it:

1. Add ingredients to mixing bowl – add all of the ingredients to a large mixing bowl or stand mixer with a whisk attachment. 
2. Beat – beat the ingredients together on low speed, until the powdered sugar is slightly incorporated. Then turn speed up to medium. Break after about 30 seconds to scrape down the bowl (sides and bottom), then beat again for at least 30 more seconds, or until everything is well-combined. 
3. Serve and enjoy! Use the frosting to decorate your cake, cupcakes, or other treats immediately, or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. 

Best Buttercream Tips

This buttercream is truly the easiest to mix together. The combination of the peanut butter and heavy cream with the sugar makes for the smoothest, creamiest consistency without much effort (except scraping down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl). If your buttercream becomes runny, try putting the mixing bowl into the fridge for 30 minutes to allow it to set up. 

Ideas for Using Peanut Butter Frosting

This peanut butter buttercream frosting is delicious on top of chocolate cake or chocolate cupcakes. It would also pair well with chocolate chip cookies or brownies. You could even be adventurous and pair it with an apple cupcake or chewy ginger molasses cookies. 

Peanut Butter Buttercream FAQs