This is going to be a hodge podge of a post, but I wanted to share my recipes for homemade chocolate buttercream frosting and for peanut butter buttercream frosting that my little sister, Carolyn, and I made. When I was in Cleveland visiting family two weeks ago, I was telling my little sister about this blog. She wanted to make something from the blog while I was home. We decided to make a cake because it was also my Dad’s birthday. We followed my doctored chocolate cake recipe and made a layer cake and then in between the layers, we whipped up a very rich peanut butter buttercream frosting and then did a homemade chocolate buttercream on the outside.

I only had made my own chocolate buttercream frosting once before and it came out okay. I tried to follow the same recipe again from memory, but all we could taste was the powdered sugar! We ended up melting some Hersey’s bars and mixed it in and that gave the frosting the chocolatey taste we were looking for! The peanut butter buttercream was pretty rich. In fact, if the whole cake had this frosting, I wouldn’t have been able to eat more than a few bites. And even with the PB in just the middle, this cake was RICH. Cut modest slices and have a big glass of milk on standby!

Carolyn is a perfectionist (what can I say, she takes after her sister…) and wanted our cake to look as professional as possible. She spent a lot of time trying to smooth out the chocolate buttercream frosting. Then she decorated the sides and the top of the cake! Here was our finished product:

Not too shabby, right? Oh, and while we’re at it. I have to give a little pre-birthday shout out to Carolyn because tomorrow is her 13th Birthday! So, Happy 13th Birthday, Carolyn! I can’t believe she is officially a teenager! Watch out world!

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

Makes approximately 1 1/2 cups of frosting

Ingredients:

– 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

– 1 cup confectioner’s sugar

– 8 tbs. unsalted butter, softened

– 1 tsp. vanilla extract

– 2-3 tbs. milk or heavy cream

1. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth (use paddle attachment if using stand mixer). Add in peanut butter and vanilla and mix until well-combined. Add in 2 tbs. of milk and beat continuously until well-combined. If the frosting is too thick, add additional milk, one tablespoon at a time.

Milk Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Makes enough frosting to liberally frost 24 cupcakes or one large cake

Ingredients:

– 2 lbs. confectioner’s sugar

– 2 tsp. vanilla extract

– 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

– 1 tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder

– 1/2-3/4 cup melted milk chocolate (about 2 Hersey’s Bars)

– 6-8 tbs. milk or heavy cream

1. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and melted chocolate. Then add the sugar one cup at a time until smooth (use paddle attachment if using stand mixer). Add in cocoa powder and vanilla and and mix until well-combined. Add in about 4 tbs. of milk and beat continuously until well-combined. Continue to add milk one tablespoon at at time until frosting reaches desired consistency. Frost cake or cupcakes.

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Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting Apple Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting