Easy Glaze Recipe

This incredibly easy cake glaze recipe requires just four staple ingredients and less than five minutes of time to make. It’s smooth, delightfully sweet, and easy to customize with a variety of extracts.

This is the perfect vanilla cake glaze that is perfect for adding to your favorite bundt cakes, angel food cakes, pound cakes, muffins and even doughnuts.

You’ll found countless ideas for where to use it! It’s such a great little recipe to keep in your back pocket… pretty soon you’ll be making it from memory! It’s that easy!

Originally published October 4, 2013 and updated June 23, 2021.

You know the saying, “the icing on the cake”? Well, it’s my belief that the icing is just as important, if not more important than the cake itself. This basic cake glaze recipe never disappoints!

One of the reasons I love using a glaze is that it is beautiful without any effort at all. Just make, warm and pour! It’s such an easy way to elevate your baked goods and add a hit of sweetness.

It’s perfect to decorate cakes for friends and family, as well as occasion cakes.

It really couldn’t be easier to make this yummy glaze! Let’s get started!

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

• Just four ingredients – and you likely have them on hand!
• Easy to whip up for any occasion
• Perfect for customizing
• Simple to make ahead

What is the Difference Between Glaze and Icing?

It can be confusing, right? What’s the difference between these toppings… frosting, icing, glaze, and the list goes on!

Icing is quite a bit thinner than frosting, but then not as thin as glaze.

In this case, icing and glaze are quite similar. The difference is generally defined not by the ingredients, but by the final consistency. Glaze is liquid enough to be poured, whereas icing is generally spread on.

Cake Glaze Recipe Ingredients

• Butter – Salted or unsalted, your preference.
• Powdered Sugar – Also known as confectioners sugar or icing powder. If you don’t have powdered sugar, you can puree granulated sugar in a food processor until soft and fluffy.
• Vanilla Extract – Pure rather than imitation if possible. Even better? Make your own!
• Heavy Cream – You can substitute milk if needed.

Variations

• Add Zest – Use lemon or orange zest for a fruity flair.
• Substitute Extract – You can flavor this recipe in so many ways. A few favorites are with almond extract, lemon extract or orange extract.

How to Make this Cake Glaze

1. Combine ingredients, beat on medium until smooth.
2. Warm in microwave 30 seconds to make it a pourable glaze for easy topping.

Serving Suggestions

This cake glaze recipe is perfect for topping pound cake, angel cake, bundt cake and even doughnuts!  Try it on all of these baked goods:

• Homemade Donuts
• Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
• Pumpkin Muffin Recipe
• Apple Pound Cake
• Biscuit Donuts
• Carrot Cake Muffins
• The Best Blueberry Bread
• Cinnamon Roll Bread

Cake Glaze Recipe Tips

• Use Immediately – Use the glaze as soon as you’ve made it or it will harden.
• It’s easy to make this glaze in a stand mixer, but if you don’t have one, you can also beat it by hand with a spatula in a large bowl, just make sure everything is well combined with no lumps.
• Allow Baked Goods to Cool – Before glazing your cake, ensure that the cake has full cooled, or the glaze can run off of it.

How to Store

• Room Temperature – You can store this cake glaze for up to three days at room temperature.
• Refrigerator – Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
• Freezer – You can store this easy cake glaze in the freezer in an airtight container for up to three months. It will last even longer but will start to lose its fresh flavor and quality over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you try this easy cake glaze recipe, please come back to share using my 5 star rating in the comments below!

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