Julie Clark
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Powdered Sugar Glaze
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The ultimate powdered sugar glaze recipe that takes just 5 minutes and 3 ingredients. A simple glaze icing perfect to drizzle over cakes, cookies, and pastries.
Searching for the perfect finishing touch for your baked goods? Look no further than our powdered sugar glaze recipe that’s quick, easy, and sure to impress. This simple glaze icing can be whipped up in a mere 5 minutes, using just 3 essential ingredients.
The beauty of this powdered sugar icing is in its versatility. Not only will we guide you on how to make glaze icing with ease, but we’ll also explore variations to ensure your desserts stand out.
About this Powdered Sugar Glaze Recipe:
- Flavor: The flavor is up to you! Add vanilla extract for a traditional flavor, but we’ll share more flavor ideas below.
- Texture: It’s smooth, silky, and will melt in your mouth. It’s perfectly drizzle-able.
- Method: 5 minutes. A small bowl. And a whisk. That’s all you need.
What is a powdered sugar glaze?
One thing I’ve had readers ask me about is the elusive “powdered sugar frosting” recipe that many old-fashioned recipes call for. Old cookbooks just assume that you know exactly how to make this icing that uses powdered sugar and is often drizzled over cakes, quick breads and cookies.
This easy icing recipe will give you a simple solution to the desserts that need a little drizzle icing on top.
Ingredients
Powdered sugar glaze has in its very basic form 3 ingredients:
- powdered sugar
- heavy cream
- vanilla extract
Although you can use different ingredients for the cream and flavoring, powdered sugar is the only constant in every variation.
How to Make Glaze Icing
- Sift the powdered sugar into a medium-size bowl. Sifting helps ensure there are no clumps of powdered sugar to make your glaze lumpy.
- Add the heavy cream a tablespoon at a time until you reach the consistency you’d like your icing or drizzle to be, whisking in between each addition.
- Add vanilla extract (or your favorite flavor) and whisk well.
To make the glaze a thicker consistency to spread like a frosting on bread, add less cream.
If you want a light drizzle that easily flows off the spoon, you’ll add more cream.
a note about the liquid in the recipe
If you use milk, juice or any liquid that is thinner than heavy cream, you’ll need fewer tablespoons. The higher the fat content of the milk you use, the more tablespoons you’ll need because the milk is thicker. Remember to add the liquid one tablespoon at at time until you reach the desired consistency.
Powdered Sugar Glaze Flavors
Once you have the basic powdered sugar and cream recipe down, the fun part comes! Here are some ideas about flavors you can add:
- Vanilla extract. Make vanilla extract at home for extra special flavor.
- Coconut extract. Try this on coconut oatmeal cookies or carrot cake bread.
- Almond extract. Mouthwatering on cherry bars, or apple pie bars.
Add a half teaspoon a time until it tastes like what you want it to.
Add Melted Butter to Glaze
Depending on the recipe, I add a tablespoon of melted salted butter to my powdered sugar glaze. The salted butter cuts the sweetness of the glaze and adds a richness to the baked good.
Adding butter as an ingredient is great when you are making:
Recipe Variations
- For citrus glaze, substitute lemon juice or orange juice in place of the cream. You can see how I did this in this bundt cake and on these cookies.
- Love cream cheese? Soften it and add it to your glaze for drizzling on carrot cake bread.
- What about apple flavor? Use apple cider in place of the cream as we did on these apple butter muffins.
- Crazy for peanut butter? Try adding peanut butter and drizzle it over a chocolate cake.
Powdered Sugar Glaze
The ultimate powdered sugar glaze recipe that takes just 5 minutes and 3 ingredients. A simple glaze icing perfect to drizzle over cakes, cookies, and pastries.
Servings 8
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 195 grams
- 3-5 tablespoons heavy cream*
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Sift the powdered sugar into a medium-size bowl.
- Add the heavy cream a tablespoon at a time until you reach the consistency you'd like your icing or drizzle to be, whisking in between each addition.
- Add vanilla extract (or your favorite flavor).
- Whisk well and immediately drizzle or spread over cookies, cakes or breads.
Notes
- Powdered sugar is sometimes called icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar.
- Use a non-dairy milk if you’d like.
- Instead of cream you can use milk, half and half or even lemon juice or apple cider. Whatever liquid you choose, just add it slowly to the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until the glaze is at the right consistency.
Nutrition
Calories: 106kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 2mg | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 85IU | Calcium: 4mg
Will it keep in the refrigerator or freezer?
I made banana bread for the first time during the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep. I was so excited to have it for breakfast the next morning….but when I woke up, I realized I forgot the sugar!!! A sad surprise. “How can I fix this?” I thought. I’m new to baking but a veteran in cooking so I do know a thing or two. My mind thought of “sugar glaze” as a jumping off point. I had no idea I would strike white gold with this recipe making my banana nut bread suddenly edible
Worked perfectly- added melted butter to a little cream and added slowly- was delicious on chocolate cake! So easy…
Love it
When I make my glaze, I use Cold Stone Creamery Sweet Cream coffee creamer. Mmmm… deliciousness!
Thank you for this recipe! It was my first time making glaze and I used a combo of heavy cream and half and half. The glaze was used for my pumpkin bread.
I made a similar recipe for glaze,that called for butter added to the powdered sugar. It turned out very lumpy no matter how much I stirred and/or whisked. It was like very sweet cottage cheeses. I used powdered sugar, then added butter, then milk, and then vanilla extract. I tried the butter just softened first, then redid the recipe with melted butter.. It was worse when the butter was melted. What did I do wrong? It was so gross!
I love cinnamon in my glaze…not mentioned here…shame…shame….!
I made the icing with lemon juice and it was perfect. I let it completely dry for overnight on the sweet bread. Then I placed in a bag and heat sealed it for freshness. Within 24 hrs the icing looks crinkly and/or wet again. Then when I opened it, it was actually sticky and wet.
How do I get the icing to stay hard and dry when sealed in a bag?
Do you glaze after bread is cool and then wrap when glaze hardens?
My glaze turned a tan color after I added the vanilla extract. What did I do wrong ir what would have caused this?
Thank you
Hi. I’m making a raspberry cheese crumb cake and it calls for almond extract in the recipe. Would you recommend almond extract in the glaze or stick with good, old fashioned vanilla? Thank yuh in advance!