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.
I have around thirty to forty web sites. Thats my business. So as you can tell I have to surf alot to stay in the loop on the net. But more importantly I am also my families cook and housewife. Which is kinda funny couse I am a guys guy except when it comes to my home. I was raised sourthern and my first wife and Mother of my daughters Has the greatest old southern traditional Georgia family you could ever imagine. I loved them then and I love em now. We married when I was 19 and she was 32 years old. Sorta broke a few traditions there. But She and her mother are the greatest old souothern cooks. Her mother could make anything. Men were expected to know how to help out and handle themselves around the kitchen so I took to learning with a zeal. She made the greatest desserts and one of the things that hurts the most about the divorce is not be able to call on MeMaw for help every now and then with a recipe or too. It was the happiest 18 years of my life. So thanks for having the recipe just like Memaw used to make it I have been looking for this for a while.
You’re very welcome, Cookie! I love to help! Hope you become a fixture on the Southern Plate front porch!
thanks for answering so quickly. you just verified what I always suspected…lol.
i have yet to try that p.b. cake for that exact reason, although i’ve seen her do it a million times..lol.
don’t worry, i’ll be back, i’m makin a list…he he
Welcome to Southern Plate, cookie!
I’m thrilled to have you here!
That icing is what my grandmother puts on a three layer cake a lot also. I prefer to use a sheet cake because it hardens up so fast and only the “veterans” (grandmothers) are really good at getting it on a three layer in time!! LOL
Chocolate would be great, you’ll love my Reeses Trifle when I post that!
The biscuits……..this is an easy one. When we pat or roll the dough out, you have to sprinkle (liberally) flour over your surface so it doesn’t stick. most likely your grandmother used a rolling pin on hers, which would call for a liberal dusting of flour on top of the biscuits as well. This would keep the rolling pin from sticking as well as the biscuit cutter or drinking glass, whichever she used.
When I get mine out of the oven, they also have flour still on top. i usually brush butter over them and that hides it but I really like them just as is, the flour on top reminds me that they are homemade!
Great question! Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions or special recipe requests!
Thank you again, so glad to have you here!
Christy
I wish I would’ve found you sooner!! I’ve found a few of your recipes that I’ve been looking for. So many are from my grandmothers and I only have one of them left now. Every time I look for a real southern recipe my Gran used to make, all I can find are ‘gourmet’ types and Gran’s were simple and oh so good!!! I’m not done lookin at what u have but I do have some comments on the ones I’ve checked out so far.
First off, my Maw Maw was the only one I’ve ever known to make peanut butter icing. However, her’s is basically sugar water(2 parts sugar..you know) then add the peanut butter. She does hers as a 3 layer, though. My uncle and I came up with a variation, instead of yellow cake, try chocolate.(Can you tell we like reese’s cups?)
For those who want to get someone to try chocolate gravy but worried they won’t for the sake of the name, tell ’em it’s breakfast chocolate.
I do have a question for ya though. My Gran’s biscuits were always from scratch and I remembered them to be so light they’d melt in your mouth but they had a light dustin of flour on top but I don’t remember her doing anything to them after they came out of the oven. Why is that?
I reckon I’ll leave you alone now, but I’ll be back.
Su, that is so interesting! I would have never imagined a place not having yellow cake! When you do get to come to the states, you oughta hop into any grocery store and pick up a few boxes of Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix. It is DIVINE!!!
Also, anytime you need a recipe for something or are not sure what I am talking about (because y’all don’t have it there), please don’t hesitate to ask. I will gladly hunt you down whatever recipes or substitutions you need!!!
I am glad you loved it!!!!
Christy
We don’t really have such a cake as ‘yellow cake’ here, we have regular butter cake but I found a recipe for a yellow cake online so I made it two weeks ago for my birthday. People loved it! I will have to try it with your peanut butter icing. I can’t believe we don’t have yellow cake here because it is sooooo good…such buttery egg yolk goodness! lol
And now I feel like I have this great secret recipe now because no-one knows what yellow cake is!