Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting without Butter

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting without Butter is a delectable frosting made with peanut butter and cream cheese. This whipped cream cheese frosting has a creamy and silky taste that is perfect for luscious cupcakes, cakes or brownies.

I don't know about you, but to me, frosting is one of the most important parts of cakes or cupcakes so much so that I have a separate section on Cakes Icings and frosting recipes.

If a cake doesn't taste great and is dry, sometimes I'll put an amazing frosting on it and call it a day.

I belong to that minority category where I prefer more frosting to cake ratio. Anyone else with me here?

And when you guys showered so much love on our frosting recipe without butter I knew I had to make something even better than that!!

Why Peanut Butter Frosting with Cream Cheese

Peanut butter frosting is delicious, but some of you might agree that it is too sweet and a bit heavy.

On the other hand, the tanginess in cream cheese helps to balance the texture and sweetness in a classic cream cheese frosting.

So boom!! there you have it!!

Let's take the best out of the two to make a light and fluffy frosting recipe by simply swapping one ingredient.

And what's that?? Let's find out.

Whipped Peanut Butter Frosting

We all know butter helps in stabilizing a frosting but it definitely makes the frosting a bit heavy.

Now that's why I prefer using stabilized whipped cream (using dairy cream) on all my Indian Cakes and Cupcakes.

Indian desserts are so heavy in themselves that you obviously need something light and fluffy to go with it.

Or take ganache for example; would you prefer ganache or whipped ganache? See gotcha!! Whipped Ganache is so much lighter than ganache right??

So isn't it obvious that we have to swap the butter in cream cheese frosting to make this peanut butter cream cheese frosting lighter?

And replace with what?

Of course cream. Whipping cream would obviously add to the stability and also make it much lighter comparatively.

So that's our whipped peanut butter frosting adapted originally from our frosting recipe without butter.

Ingredients

What type of Peanut Butter is best for this frosting?

I recommend using smooth and creamy peanut butter for this recipe.

While crunchy peanut butter works just fine, it makes the frosting more difficult to mix in and doesn't give you a truly smooth frosting in terms of consistency to frost the sides of the cake or can even clog the piping bag making it difficult to pipe on cakes and cupcakes.

Natural Peanut Butter is also not recommended due to its low-fat content comparatively.

Cream Cheese - Cold or Room Temperature?

Isn't this debatable?

All of the recipes recommend starting with room temperature ingredients but after a lot of trials I figured out that using full-fat cream cheese from the fridge works well for this recipe.

Here is why.

Cream cheese is a soft spreadable cheese, so it's not going to hold its shape if you whisk it for longer.

So imagine if you start with already soft cheese then the more you whisk the runnier the frosting would turn out to be, isn't it?

And the addition of icing sugar makes it even runnier? Because as the icing sugar dissolves in cream cheese it starts releasing moisture.

Step By Step Instructions

Sieve the icing sugar twice and set it aside.

In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and creamy for about a minute.

Add the smooth peanut butter and beat that through too, do remember to scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary using a rubber spatula.

Add sifted icing sugar and beat it until well incorporated with other ingredients in your bowl (it will be thickening at this point). Beat in whipping cream (or heavy cream) and vanilla extract till you get stiff peaks.

This peanut butter cream cheese frosting recipe is a must-try for all you peanut butter lovers!!

Storage Instructions

• Store the leftover frosting in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
• Keep refrigerated. Frosting will keep up to a week.
• Store for up to 3 months in the freezer. Thaw in the refrigerator before using.
• If the frosting starts to separate, just stir vigorously until smooth again!

Baker's Tips

• Use cold cream cheese and whip till lump free. Personally, this is my favorite tip to make this delicious frosting especially to get the smooth consistency.
• Also, use full-fat cream cheese to get the best results
• Sieve the icing sugar at least twice before making this recipe.
• Scrape the bowl every now and then while you add the next ingredient
• Use smooth peanut butter for best results
• If you are making this creamy frosting in the bowl of a stand mixer then beat with a paddle attachment and not a whisk attachment.

Different Ways to use the Frosting

One of the best parts about this frosting is that it can be used in so many different ways. You can use it as a dip for pretzels and other snacks, or you can spread it on cupcakes and brownies or even peanut butter cookies! This recipe makes enough to cover an entire dozen of either brownies or cupcakes!

Start with chocolate cake or chocolate cupcakes - who can beat the combination of peanut butter cream cheese frosting and chocolate which is exactly what I used in cake tubs?

And of course with peanut butter cake. Or other cakes like banana cake, cinnamon cake etc. You can literally use it with all sorts of cake and even layer cake.

Or use this for piping on cookie butter cheesecake like our Biscoff Cheesecake - love the cookie butter and peanut butter flavor together.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Recipes:

1. Easy Frosting Recipe without Butter
2. Stiff Cream Cheese Frosting
3. Chocolate cake
4. Chocolate cupcake

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