This easy Lemon Glaze is made with three simple ingredients in under 3 minutes flat! It hardens, stays white, and holds its shape, perfect for cakes, scones, cookies, and morning breads. Vegan & gluten-free.
Whenever I make a cake, scone, or some type of baked good, my husband always asks with childlike excitement and anticipation, “Is there icing?”. It has become a “thing” with him, and whenever there is not some sort of icing or glaze, I can actually see him physically deflate just a little. It always makes me chuckle how he can be such a kid sometimes. While I could take it or leave it, he absolutely has an opinion about it. It truly delights him. So that is why I make Lemon Glaze. To delight my husband. Yes, sometimes I can be nice.
It is easy to be nice with this recipe because it takes very little effort! Delicious on scones, cakes, cookies and morning breads, this gives them a beautiful finishing touch, making them irresistible. This easy vegan version whips up in just a couple of minutes. No heating is needed. You’ve seen it recently on our Huckleberry Cake, which I highly recommend!
Lemon Glaze Ingredients
- Powdered sugar – use powdered sugar to prevent your glaze from being grainy. No powdered sugar? You can easily make powdered sugar in your blender! You can also use confectioner’s sugar.
- Fresh lemon juice – or see our variations! Any citrus will work here.
- Vanilla extract – optional but tasty! I bet you could experiment oath other extracts as well…
How to make lemon Glaze
- Place the powdered sugar in a medium bowl, and whisk out any clumps.
- Add the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.
- Adjust the consistency to your liking. Add more lemon juice to thin, and add more powdered sugar to thicken.
- Drizzle over your favorite baked goods or desserts (placing them over a wire rack, placed on top of a baking sheet to catch any extras.).
How to make Powdered Sugar
- Place 1 cup granulated sugar in a blender. ( I use organic cane sugar)
- Blend on high until it is ground into a fluffy fine powder.
- You’ll end up with 2 cups of powdered sugar (double the amount of granulated sugar).
- Store in a sealed bag or container.
Ways to use Lemon glaze
We love this lemon glaze on cakes, scones, and cookies! The lemon flavor complements desserts with fresh berries, stone fruit, nuts, coconut, and of course lemon!
Variations of Lemon Glaze
- Try Meyer lemon juice, lime juice, key lime, grapefruit juice, orange juice, tangerine or mandarin juice.
- Add lemon zest or other citrus zest ( finely chopped)
- Top with crushed nuts or toasted coconut flakes before it hardens- it will stick.
When should you glaze?
TIP: Wait to glaze your baked goods or desserts until they have cooled down completely (roughly 30 minutes) and have come to room temperature- this way, you’ll be able to better control the drips and make them pretty!
Enjoy this simple recipe for Lemon Glaze, and let us know how you use it in the comments below! -xo
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Lemon Glaze Recipe
- Prep Time: 3
- Total Time: 3 minutes
- Yield: ½ cup 1x
- Category: sauce, dessert
- Method: stirred
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This easy Lemon Glaze is made with three simple ingredients in under 3 minutes flat! It hardens, stays white, and holds its shape, perfect for cakes, scones, cookies and morning breads. Vegan & gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional, but tasty)
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Place powdered sugar in a small bowl, and whisk out any clumps.
- Add lemon juice, vanilla, and salt, whisk until smooth.
- Adjust consistency to you liking; add more lemon juice to thin, or more powdered sugar to thicken.
- Wait to drizzle over you baked good, until it has cooled to room temp.
Notes
No powdered Sugar? To make powdered sugar, place half the amount of granulated sugar (in this case, ½ cup) in a blender. Blend until ground into fine fluffy powder. This will make 1 cup powdered sugar.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tablespoon
- Calories: 60
- Sugar: 14.8 g
- Sodium: 0.4 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 15.3 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
I’ve used your recipe a few times for the glaze. Instead of using vanilla extract, I substituted it with lemon extract. I use about 0.5 tsp to 1 tsp. Today I added a drop of yellow food gel color to it so the glaze isn’t so white and transparent. Thanks for the simple and easy recipe.
Sounds delicious Emily!
Do you have a favorite brand of powdered sugar? Many of them have that metallic taste.
Wholesome Organic has a nice clean flavor. It has a slightly darker color but looks fine once glazed!
We loved this super easy glaze for the vegan lemon bundt cake!
Great to hear!
Great tasting glaze on blueberry muffins
oooo yummy!
Excellent!
Perfect!
I love this recipe
So glad!
Excellent taste! Super fast and easy! Used it to give a finishing touch to my lemon pudding cake. Will use again and again. Thank you.
Great to hear Brenda!
Lovely recipe. Easy, lemony, tender cake. I didn’t have white chocolate, so made a lemon glaze, which was delicious… But next time I’ll be sure to try the white chocolate icing. I’m sure it’ll be as lovely as three cake. I say give it a go! You won’t be disappointed! Cheers!
I’ve never made lemon glaze before. This was so so quick and simple and very yummy. I put it on my organic Lemon poppyseed muffins made with fresh milled flour. ❤️🙏❤️
Oh good! Sounds yummy!
Yum, sounds perfect!
I found the only way to make this was by using organic cane sugar and the blender. I tried going rogue with organic powder cane sugar from the store, but it was way to clumpy…..so, I ditched it and blended up the cane sugar. Thanks for the great tips!
Glad you were able to make this work!