Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Icing
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Transform an ordinary yellow cake with this delicious sweet and nutty old-fashioned peanut butter icing recipe. It’s a must-make for peanut butter fans!
Today, I’m sharing a recipe with a big old root system behind it: yellow cake with old-fashioned peanut butter icing. The cake we’re going to use is just a boxed mix because spoiler: it’s not the cake that is important here, it’s the icing. This is my grandmother’s old-fashioned peanut butter icing recipe to be exact and it will forever remind me of my great aunt, Red.
Now, most old-fashioned icing recipes are of the boiled icing variety. If this technique scares you, don’t worry, I’ve included lots of tips for success below to make sure you nail it every time. Trust me, when you get it right and give it a taste, you’ll want to make it again and again. Who can resist a thick layer of sweet yet nutty peanut butter icing on their favorite cake? Certainly not me! The best part of boiled icing is that you pour the hot icing onto the cooled cake and it hardens like fudge… YUM!
To make my peanut butter frosting, you’ll need creamy peanut butter (of course), as well as icing essentials like granulated sugar, vanilla, milk, shortening, and butter. So grab those ingredients and get ready, because I just know you’re going to love this old-fashioned peanut butter icing recipe as much as I do! And if you don’t love peanut butter check out Boiled Chocolate Icing
Recipe Ingredients
- Sugar
- Shortening (I use coconut oil these days)
- Peanut butter
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Unsalted butter
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How To Make Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Icing
In a large saucepot, combine sugar, milk, shortening, margarine, and salt.
Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.
Once it reaches a boil, let it boil for two to three minutes without stirring.
Remove from heat and immediately stir in the vanilla and peanut butter.
Beat until icing is smooth and starts to lose its shine.
Immediately pour it onto the baked and cooled cake.
Allow it to cool before serving.
Look at that nice layer of peanut butter fudge icing!
Can you see why yellow cake with old-fashioned peanut butter icing is such a special cake?
This is a sight to behold.
Guess what? It seems like it was a gift from above, but as a precious reminder of my past and its connection to the future, this is my daughter’s favorite cake.
Now excuse me while I dig into this delicious slice of yellow cake!
Storage
Store leftover cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Recipe Notes
Here are my tips for success when it comes to boiled peanut butter icing:
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- The boiling of the icing is the most critical step. Make sure it comes to a rolling boil and then stay right there, timing it. I suggest adding one minute to be on the safe side but don’t go over this as the icing will scorch.
- You absolutely must have your cake done and ready the moment the icing is done.
- Once your icing is finished, remove it from the heat and use a wire whisk to quickly stir in the peanut butter and vanilla until the icing thickens a bit and starts to lose some of its shine. It should still be pourable.
- Don’t try to spread the icing once you’ve poured it. Instead, pour it evenly over the cake so that no spreading is needed.
- Most importantly, unless you lived through the Great Depression, I strongly encourage you not to use this on anything other than a sheet cake. Only those who have the crown of wisdom that comes through age and hardship can ice a layer cake with this.
- If you want more peanut butter flavor, sprinkle the cake with roasted peanuts or crushed nuts.
- Natural peanut butter doesn’t work as well as regular peanut butter in this recipe.
- For creamier icing, you can substitute the milk for buttermilk.
Recipe FAQs
What other cakes work well with old-fashioned peanut butter icing?
You can use any kind of boxed cake mixes, such as vanilla cake, angel food cake, golden cake, white cake, or even chocolate cake (which will suit Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup fans). But if you’re looking for a homemade cake recipe, Aunt Sue’s easy pound cake would be perfect with this peanut butter icing.
Check out these other irresistible icing recipes:
Italian Cream Cake with Pecan Cream Cheese Icing
7-Minute Frosting (Foolproof Recipe)
Vegan Sweet Potato Cake With Maple Cashew Icing
Cappuccino Cake With Cappuccino Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 Duncan Hines yellow cake mix made according to package directions and cooled
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 7 tablespoons whole milk
- 2 tablespoons shortening
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Instructions
- Prepare cake mix in a 9x13 baking dish as directed on the package. Allow it to cool.1 Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
- In a large saucepot, combine sugar, milk, shortening, butter, and salt. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.1.5 cups sugar, 7 tablespoons whole milk, 2 tablespoons shortening, 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Once it reaches a boil, let it boil for two to three minutes without stirring.
- Remove from heat and immediately stir in vanilla and peanut butter. Beat until icing is smooth and starts to lose its shine. Immediately pour it onto the cake and allow it to cool before serving.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Nutrition
This post was originally published in July of 2008. I updated the photos in August 2019.
Oh Christy (topcat), you know I’m going to have to make me more dressing this week now ! LOL
I’m glad you liked it!!
Hehe, thick sliced tomatoes, thin sliced tomatoes…at least you live with someone who likes them fried!! You know, umm…no one in my family eats them but me ~sighs heavily~. I mean, my kids and dh, my extended family has much better sense!
If you have any questions whatsoever on the cake, just let me know! It makes me so happy to see folks making this particular recipe, so much nostalgia for me!
Well, I had made the dressing before, but only around the holidays. After seeing how much the stove (stovetop and oven, both) have been keeping the temperature up here in the house and making the AC run constantly, I figured I better put the crock pot to use.
So, the dressing turned out great, I hadn’t put boiled eggs in it before and really like it like that. The fried green tomatoes were good, too, and I sliced them pretty thick, like you suggest, but then my roommate asked for them to be thinner in the next batches. But he ate them anyway! Just like a man!
Will probably give the cake a go this week sometime, maybe tues or wed. Wish me well and I will let you know how it turns out!
topcat
Topcat (Christy), first I simply must gush over what a lovely name you have! ~grins~ The spelling is simply perfect as well and only adds to the overall magnificence! ;D
WOW, you are getting off to a grand start. The only thing I love more than people commenting is people trying my recipes AND commenting!!!
Do let me know how it all turns out and thank you so much for letting me know!!!!
~Christy
Yeah, beans over cake, sounds odd but my grandma and dad and his brothers and sisters swore by it! I never did indulge in that one. I had an aunt from up north (married into the family, to one of my dad’s brothers) and she thought it was the awfulist looking thing around, but after a while she started eating her cake that way too! BTW, fixing to fry up some green tomatoes. Hadn’t done that in a while but seeing them here got me wanting some. And I have the chicken dressing in the crock pot right now! Thanks for the help. (Also love your name. Not many spell it that way anymore.)
Topcat
(Christy, also!)
Oh Topcat, I’m so excited to have this recipe here for you!!! I know how heartwrenching it can be to lose yet another recipe which links us to our past. Yes, the icing is definitely “it”! This same icing is made with cocoa to produce chocolate fudge icing in my chocolate pound cake recipe on this site as well.
White beans over cake? Not sure if I’ve seen that, but honestly, what doesn’t taste great with white beans? Now I’m hungry!
Its so good to have you here! Please let me know if you have any questions or special requests!!!!
~Christy
This was a given at my grandma’s house! She made other cakes, maybe coconut sometimes, but peanut butter was IT! I had her recipe once upon a long time ago, tried it once and lost it! But I am going to give yours a go round, see if my room mate likes it. (I am sure he will) It sounds a lot like grandma’s did. Yeah, you have to move fast because it can harden pretty quick. Hey, do you or your folks put white beans over their cake when they eat it? Also, it is nice to hear someone else call it peanut butter cake, even though only the icing is peanut butter!!
Leslie:
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction for my photos! I won’t be able to get a camera for a while, but at least now I know what to research! The lighting is a huge help too. Ugh! I want a better camera! It breaks my heart to do this entire tutorial on something and not be able to get a good pic of the finished product!
I’m glad you liked my story, I have to admit that I am getting teary eyed just thinking about it again. I think Red would have liked me sharing that recipe. 😀
My son just informed us he will be coming home this weekend so boy, this cake is right on time! Will def be making this one!
Christy, will you be addressing the food shortage? It’s so confusing. Thanks so much for everything!
Hey Becky! What a joy!!! I’m so excited for you and you are right, this is the perfect cake for that!
I’ve been watching and taking measures regarding the food shortage for a good bit of time now. It does seem to be ramping up and I’ve been pretty surprised so few are taking notice. I’ve kinda been shaking my head at that. I would love your input on what you think would be helpful for me to do. I appreciate you asking this!
Thanks so much for your response! This is one of those times that I wish I was more like my canning, preserving, always-thinking-ahead grandmother! Anyway, I’ve been trying to remember the things you kept in your food storage because I’m trying to start my own stash. Here in Arkansas we’ve seen shortages with canned green beans and peas and certain brands of mayonnaise. Also canned meat.