Get 25 incredible frosting, icing and glaze recipes in this complete frosting recipe guide! Learn all the best tips and tricks to get perfect homemade frosting, every time.
Get the keys to smooth, creamy icings, glazes and more… with every flavor combination under the sun!
From light, delicate glazes to heavy, rich cream cheese options, and everything in between, we’ve got it covered.
It’s finally here! Your definitive guide to frosting, icing and glaze. This is a recipe guide you’ll want to pin and save for later, as it’s an incredible resource for all your baking needs.
Choose from light and fruit-infused glazes, icings that harden for stacking, and decadent, fluffy traditional recipes. We’ve got something for every occasion!
No matter what you love to bake, a homemade frosting recipe is sure to take it to the next level. Why buy store bought frosting when it’s so easy to make your own?
Homemade Frosting Recipes
Use the drop down Table of Contents to navigate through the tips, tricks, and recipes. Click through to each link for the printable recipe card at the end of every post.
Tips
- No Powdered Sugar? No problem, when you see how easy it is to make homemade powdered sugar from granulated!
- Soften your butter or cream before making the icing, it will combine much easier. Softened, room temperature butter is required for these recipes – learn how to soften butter quickly! Or, learn how to soften cream cheese here.
- If you use salted butter, reduce the amount of added salt in the recipe or omit altogether.
- Use at room temperature. If you have made it ahead of time, take all buttercream recipes out of the fridge 30 minutes before using.
- It’s quickest and easiest to make these recipes with a stand mixer, but you can mix by hand, just ensure that everything is well combined.
Frequently Asked Questions
While there are thousands of variations of frostings, the most popular, basic types are as follows:
buttercream
fondant
royal
buttercream icing
cream cheese icing
ganache
whipped cream frostings
Yes! It’s always a good idea to chill a cake before frosting. However, the frosting itself should be room temperature to make for easy spreading.
Generally, frosting is thick and creamy, while icing is a little thinner – often piped or drizzled on. Icing hardens as it cools.
Often, frostings are used for cakes and cupcakes, and icings are more likely to be used for coatings on donuts, cookies and the like.
How to Store Frostings, Icings and Glazes
- Room Temperature – Buttercream frosting recipes can be left out at room temperature for up to two days.
- Refrigerator – Most icings and frosting recipes will keep covered in the fridge for up to 3-4 days in the fridge.
- Freezer – Freeze your frosting for up to three months in an airtight storage container. To use after freezing, let it defrost in the refrigerator overnight. Bring it back to room temperature and make it creamy by re-whipping it with your whip attachment on your stand mixer.
The Best Homemade Frosting Recipes
Don’t forget all the yummy icings and glazes, too! There’s a recipe to top every one of your favorite baked goodies in this complete guide.
Orange Glaze
This orange glaze recipe is so easy and straightforward to make, with just four simple ingredients. It’s perfect for topping breakfast rolls, cookies, and it’s the ultimate orange cake drizzle.
Lemon Glaze
An easy, refreshing lemon glaze made with just three ingredients! You can whip up this amazing lemon glaze recipe in just five minutes.
Lemon glaze icing is perfect for breads, pound cakes, angel food cakes and so much more!
Apple Glaze
Add this two-ingredient Apple Glaze to everything for a taste of fall you can’t resist! Apple Cider Glaze is the perfect topping for breads, cookies, pastries and so much more!
Pink Champagne Glaze
These delightful little pink champagne cupcakes are iced with both a light pink champagne glaze, as well as a pink champagne buttercream that you’ll find later on this list!
Cream Cheese Glaze
Easy four ingredient cream cheese glaze for pound cake, cinnamon rolls, bundt cake, pumpkin bread, donuts, carrot cake and more!
This cream cheese glaze looks as good as it tastes, pouring onto your favorite baked goods effortlessly and beautifully.
Caramel Icing
You are going to love this easy caramel icing recipe that is made with only six ingredients. It’s perfect for cookies, cakes, caramel rolls and more!
The Best Cinnamon Roll Icing
A smooth cinnamon roll glaze that is so perfect, it’s actually one of my most popular recipes ever! Don’t skip this one – it’s so decadent and delicious!
Cream Cheese Icing For Cinnamon Rolls
A quick and easy recipe for the best cream cheese icing for cinnamon rolls. It’s made with cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and heavy cream (or milk) and will elevate store bought and homemade rolls!
Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting
This decadent, fluffy cream cheese frosting recipe is the ultimate indulgence. Get the secret to whipping your cream cheese to create the fluffiest topping imaginable!
Cinnamon Frosting
Cinnamon buttercream is the perfect addition to desserts and treats for fall. It’s light and fluffy, beautiful, and full of fall and winter flavor! Made with four simple ingredients, this frosting comes together quickly and easily.
Apple Buttercream Icing
This is a fall infused apple buttercream icing, perfect for all of your baked goods! We use apple butter for the richest, most jam-packed apple flavor you can imagine.
Salted Caramel Frosting
Add salted caramel buttercream to frost cakes, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, bars and more! You only need three ingredients to make this easy, delectable fluffy recipe and it takes just minutes to make.
Brown Butter Frosting
Kick your cookies up a notch for fall with this incredible brown butter frosting! It uses just three staple ingredients and takes less than 10 minutes to make.
Sugar Cookie Buttercream
This is a three ingredient sugar cookie buttercream that is melt-in-your-mouth amazing! Top your favorite sugar cookies with this incredible classic sugar cookie frosting.
Marshmallow Icing
Who needs a jar of Marshmallow Fluff when you’ve got this incredible homemade marshmallow icing recipe? Marshmallow frosting is light, airy, and yet totally decadent.
Fruit Pizza Icing Recipe
This fruit pizza icing is such an easy and quick recipe and is the perfect topping for your dessert pizza. It’s also great on cookies and so many other bakes!
Sugar Cookie Icing
Did you know that you don’t have to compromise taste when icing your sugar cookies? This sugar cookie buttercream frosting goes on smoothly and hardens just like royal icing.
Butterscotch Frosting
Butterscotch is a little deeper in flavor because it’s created with brown sugar (which contains molasses). A butterscotch frosting is richer and more flavor-focused for that reason!
Peanut Butter Frosting
It’s the best blend of sweet and salty… an easy peanut butter frosting on top of any dessert is a taste of true decadence! This peanut butter frosting is the easiest indulgence for true peanut butter lovers!
Lemon Buttercream Frosting
This lemon frosting recipe is bursting with fresh citrus flavor! Easy and quick to make, they are the perfect springtime treat that the whole family will love.
Key Lime Buttercream
Sweet bursts of cool citrus and rich buttery flavor in this key lime frosting makes for such a fun surprise! Love key lime pie? I bet you’ll love this key lime frosting, too!
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
This rich and creamy chocolate option is a classic, used to top cupcakes, cookies, sheet cakes and so much more!
Royal Icing
An easy royal icing recipe that sets up with a soft inside and firm outside. It’s perfect for adorning your favorite sugar or gingerbread cookies.
Peppermint Buttercream
This melt-in-your mouth peppermint buttercream is fabulous for the holidays, or any time of year! Add it to brownies, cakes, cookies and more.
Pink Champagne Buttercream
This pink champagne buttercream has a subtle touch of bubbly sweet champagne. It’s wonderful for celebrations like baby and wedding showers!
More Inspiration
Homemade Frosting Recipes: Easy Cream Cheese Glaze
Ingredients
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup butter salted, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- In the fitted bowl of a stand mixer, use the whisk attachment to combine all ingredients until smooth.4 ounces cream cheese, ¼ cup butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 cup powdered sugar
- In the microwave, warm the glaze until pourable, and allow to set on your dessert before serving.
Julie’s Tips
VARIATIONS AND SUBSTITUTIONS
- Cream Cheese – Whole fat is best. You can substitute light in a pinch.
- Butter – Salted or unsalted, your choice. Bring to room temperature.
- Extract – Don’t love vanilla? Almond also tastes great!
HOW TO STORE
Store refrigerated in an airtight container. Warm to enjoy. Freezing is not recommended.Estimated nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed.
Julie, this is a great post! Iβm so glad you included chilling the cake with the crumb coating before frosting. Also, I always use salted butter since I think it ups the flavor.
Thanks for this!