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Super creamy 3 ingredient Peanut Butter Frosting with powdered sugar is milky, fluffy, and just a touch salty for peanut butter goodness! This easy homemade peanut butter frosting is simple and goes great on brownies, chocolate cake, cupcakes, and more!
Why You’ll Be Frosting Everything With This
- Creamy Peanut Butter Flavor: Smooth ‘n rich, with sweet nutty flavor.
- Cloud-Like Frosting: This frosting is milky and fluffy, airily topping moist cupcakes for perfect balance, like chocolate frosting and cream cheese frosting.
- Versatile: Great on many flavors of brownies, cake, cupcakes like carrot cake cupcakes and more!
Peanut Butter Frosting for Brownies, Chocolate Cake, Cupcakes, and More!
Lately, I’ve been craving peanut butter like no other. I mean, the nuttiness, the creaminess… the salty bite… It’s all so satisfying. Are you a fellow Peanut Butter Lover?
If so, and even if not so, you’re gonna love this super easy to make peanut butter frosting. With just a few ingredients and just minutes of work, you’ll be smoothing or piping the best fluffy, homemade, old-fashioned peanut butter frosting onto cupcakes, brownies, cake and more (just like with lemon cream cheese frosting)!
The best part? This simple and easy peanut butter frosting has the most incredible flavor—sweet but not too sweet, with just enough saltiness to show off that peanut butter flavor. It’s smooth, fluffy and creamy—the perfect complement to any dessert.
3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Frosting With Powdered Sugar
- Butter – use unsalted butter, as the exact amount of salt that I recommend adding in later is the just-right amount for perfect peanut butter flavor
- Peanut Butter – make sure to use creamy smooth peanut butter, as chunky will interfere with the frosting’s texture
- Powdered Sugar – I use 2 1/2 cups for sweet but not too sweet frosting
- Optional but Recommended: salt, vanilla extract, and milk. Salt amps up the peanut butter flavor, vanilla makes it taste just a bit sweeter, and milk makes the frosting creamy smooth!
How to Make Peanut Butter Frosting
How do you make peanut butter frosting the simple, easy way? Follow my steps below for dreamy, silky, and fluffy peanut butter frosting that tastes amazing on cupcakes, every time.
- Beat butter and peanut butter together with a hand mixer in a large bowl.
- Gradually beat in powdered sugar in 1/3 cup increments on low speed. Beat in vanilla and salt.
- Beat in milk 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
- Beat easy peanut butter frosting for brownies until creamy and fluffy. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes, cake, or brownies. Enjoy!
What to Frost
While I’ve been known to eat this 3 ingredient peanut butter frosting with powdered sugar straight out of the bowl, I recommend frosting these delicious baked goods instead (or as well!):
- Fudgy Brownie Bites
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Cake or Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Best Carrot Cake Cupcake Recipe
- Peanut Butter Blondies
Tips for the Best Peanut Butter Frosting
- Soften the butter to room temperature—if it’s too firm, your frosting will be pebbly and chunky
- To soften the butter quickly, fill a tall glass with boiling hot water, pour out the water, then place it upside down over a standing, cold stick of butter. Leave for 5-10 minutes, until softened.
- Use 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I know, it might seem like a lot, but it will truly bring out the flavor of the peanut butter and prevent the frosting from being too sweet. You could even do 2/3 teaspoon for saltier frosting!
- Use 1 tablespoon of milk for thicker, stiffer frosting that stands up well on cupcakes, or 3 tablespoons for smoother, softer frosting.
- For extra fluffy frosting: whip it extra when beating together peanut butter and butter and when whipping in powdered sugar.
Tools You Need
- Hand Mixer: powerful & reliable, this is my go-to mixer.
- Piping Bags: super sturdy piping bags that make it cleanup super quick!
- Piping Tips: for smooth frosting | for star shaped swirls
For more delicious recipe ideas like old fashioned peanut butter frosting, follow us on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. If you’ve tried this recipe, take a pic and tag us on Instagram using #beamingbaker. We can’t wait to see it! Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️
Easy Frosting Recipes & More
3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Frosting With Powdered Sugar
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, optional but recommended
- ½ teaspoon salt – use this to truly bring out peanut butter flavor, optional but HIGHLY recommended
- 1-3 tablespoons milk, depending on desired texture – I used 1 tablespoon, optional but recommended
Instructions
- Using a hand mixer and a large bowl, beat together butter and peanut butter until well mixed.
- Gradually add powdered sugar in 1/3 cup increments, beating on low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in vanilla and salt.
- One tablespoon at a time, beat in milk until you reach the desired consistency—more for softer frosting, less for thicker frosting. When milk is well mixed into the frosting, increase mixer speed to high. Beat until creamy and fluffy.
- Pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes (like chocolate cupcakes) or cake (like pumpkin cake) or spread onto brownies or cookies. Enjoy!
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