The Best Lemon Glaze Recipe (Lemon Icing for Cake) (2024)

Why this recipe is the best

• Flavorful (it doesn't taste like pure powdered sugar!)
• Easy and fast (no electric mixer or piles of dishes)
• Creamy (not too thin)
• It holds it's shape and stays white (it doesn't soak in and disappear)
• Doesn't crack on top like many powdered sugar icings
• Versatile - use it on lemon cake, pound cake, cookies, cinnamon rolls, scones, and much more

Ingredients for lemon glaze

A full list of the simple ingredients you need for lemon icing glaze is in the recipe card below, but here are a few noteworthy tips:

• Butter: Use softened butter, salted or unsalted.
• Powdered sugar: Also called confectioners' sugar at the grocery store.
• Heavy cream: The fat content in cream gives this sweet lemon glaze it’s creamy consistency and cuts the sharp powdered sugar taste. You can substitute with half and half, but I don’t recommend using milk because it doesn’t have enough fat to yield the same results.
• Fresh lemon zest: This is where the fresh lemon flavor comes from, so don't skip it. Zest the lemon before juicing.
• Fresh lemon juice: Fresh juice will give you the best flavor. Bottled lemon juice does not taste the same.
• Vanilla extract: It rounds out the flavor.

Helpful equipment

These are some of our go-to kitchen gadgets when making a quick glaze.

• Glass bowls
• Microplane
• Citrus juicer
• Whisk

How to make lemon glaze

Start by softening your butter. My preference is to leave the butter on the counter at room temperature until it is soft enough to indent easily with your finger. You could also microwave it on a medium-low power setting in your microwave, rotating and checking for softness every 10 seconds.

Next, zest your lemons. Our favorite tool for this is a microplane (the name brand really is better in our experience). Holding the lemon in one hand and the microplane upside down in the other hand, drag the grater gently but firmly across the peel, just removing the top yellow layer.

Last, squeeze the juice from the lemon into a small bowl. I like to use this citrus citrus juicer, but you can also do it by hand. If the lemon feels firm, roll it under your palm a few times before juicing.

Put all the prepared ingredients in a medium bowl, starting with 2 tablespoons of cream.

Whisk the ingredients until smooth. For a thinner glaze, add more cream 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Variations

• Try using limes or oranges (like this creamy orange glaze)
• Sprinkle toasted coconut on top
• Sprinkle chopped almonds on top

How to use lemon icing

A small bowl of lemon glaze icing instantly elevates a basic dessert.

• Lemon bundt cake
• Lemon loaf cake
• Angel food cake
• A moist cake or cream cheese pound cake
• Bundt cakes (homemade or cake mix)
• Lemon cookies or sugar cookies
• Cinnamon rolls
• Muffins
• Lemon scones
• Quick breads or sweet breads, like lemon poppy seed bread
• Cupcakes

FAQs

Tips & tricks

• Bring the lemons to room temperature, roll them under your palm, or microwave them for about 10 seconds to release more juice. Large lemons should yield 2-3 tablespoons of juice each.
• Don’t substitute the cream. It helps with the creaminess, mellows the sweetness, and keeps it from soaking into your desserts.
• Help it on the edges. When pouring or drizzling the lemon glaze, add a little extra to the edges wherever you want it to drip down the sides.
• For easy clean up, place your baked goods on a cooling rack, then set the rack over a sheet of parchment paper. The parchment will catch all the drips.

More dessert recipes

• Orange glaze
• Raspberry glaze
• Maple glaze
• Clementine Cake
• Lemon Blackberry Cheesecake
• Lemon lovers Lemon Raspberry Pie