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Lemon Icing Glaze is very easy to make and consists of four simple ingredients. Read on to find out how to make this great, simple lemon glaze that will be amazing on your cakes, cupcakes, and more!
Lemon Glaze Recipe
In order to make my lemon blueberry bundt all it could be and more, I needed fantastic lemon icing. One needs to mix the icing sugar with lemon juice as the base to achieve this. I decided to add in a ton of lemon zest and a teensy, weensy bit of butter to try and give it an excellent, slick, crackly crust. This was loaded with lemon flavor; there was no taming the taste buds here! My lemon dishes have to scream lemon, then slap you in the face with flavor, and this is precisely what this glaze did.
What do you need to make lemon glaze?
- 1 3/4 cups of confectioner sugar
- 1/4 cup of lemon juice
- The zest of one lemon (or more!)
- 1 tsp of salted butter
Combine the sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a large Pyrex measuring cup—the 4-cup capacity ones are the best.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Lemon Glaze:
- Now, again, I use salted butter. If you want to add another layer to the lemon flavor, feel free to toss just a pinch of salt into the mix now. We all know how I think about salt in icings, such as my Buttercream Icing / Frosting Recipe. The salt is necessary to cut the sugar taste and add complexity past that overwhelming sweet rush. It’s just the tiniest pinch, depending on how salty your butter is.
- Add in the butter, then microwave on high for 45 seconds.
- Take out the measuring cup and whisk until smooth, making sure there are no lumps.
- Let it sit for a few minutes, then pour it over your creation. This would be beyond amazing on scones, cakes, bundts, and, of course, anything that needs a lemon glaze.
Troubleshooting this Lemon Glaze
- If you have a watery glaze, you have too little icing/powdered/confectioners’ sugar. It can get really packed together in the bags it comes in, so someone who uses 2 cups of packed icing sugar is going to have a very different result from the person who uses 2 cups of loosely packed or sifted confectioner’s sugar.
- Don’t use lemon juice to make the flavor more prominent; use lemon zest to make it as small as possible. It works wonderfully to add that lemon flavor!
What can you use this lemon glaze on?
You can use this lemon glaze on:
- Lemon Strawberry Bundt Cake
- Lighter Lemon Blackberry Muffins
- Glazed Meyer Lemon Scones
- If you want to try another amazing icing glaze, try my Cherry Icing Glaze!
Happy Baking!
Karlynn
How to Make a Lemon Glaze
- Prep Time
- 3 minutes
- Total Time
- 3 minutes
- Course
- Dessert
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 1 batch
- Calories
- 868
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 zest of one lemon
- 1 teaspoon salted butter
Instructions
- In a large Pyrex measuring cup, the 4 cup capacity ones are the best, combine the sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Now, again, I use salted butter. If you want to add another layer of taste, feel free to toss just a pinch of salt into the mix now. We all know how I feel about salt in icings, such as my buttercream icing recipe. The salt is a necessity to cut the sugar taste and add some complexity past that overwhelming sweet rush. Just the tiniest pinch, depending on how salty your butter is.
- Add in the butter then microwave on high for 45 seconds.
- Take out the measuring cup and whisk until smooth, making sure there are no lumps.
- Let it sit for a few minutes then pour it over your creation.
Recipe Notes
Tips and Tricks
- Now, again, I use salted butter. If you want to add another layer to the lemon flavor, feel free to toss just a pinch of salt into the mix now. We all know how I feel about salt in icings, such as my Buttercream Icing / Frosting Recipe. The salt is a necessity to cut the sugar taste and add some complexity past that overwhelming sweet rush. Just the tiniest pinch, depending on how salty your butter is.
- Add in the butter then microwave on high for 45 seconds.
- Take out the measuring cup and whisk until smooth, making sure there are no lumps.
- Let it sit for a few minutes then pour it over your creation. This would be beyond amazing on scones, cakes, bundts of course, anything that you can think of that needs a lemon glaze works.
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Mallory says
This was delicious. I think what a lot of people are missing is that this is a GLAZE not an icing so it’s supposed to be a thin layer. Also, people saying it’s too thin haven’t worked with powdered sugar. Maybe you could add in the direction to slowly add the lemon juice to desired consistency. I feel everyone measures powered sugar differently. Anyways, I put this over a blueberry lemon loaf and it’s incredible. Thank you!
Mallory says
Not icing, I mean frosting.
Kerry Anthony says
Thanks so much, My wife loves the taste of lemon in every dessert. She loves a lemon pound cake so I added your lemon icing recipe to my lemon pound cake and she really enjoyed it. Adding the pinch of salt dropped the sweetness considerably and adding an additional teaspoon of lemon extract was great. Again thanks
A'Azizah says
It came out way too runny AFTER adding the butter and microwaving. Ended up using the rest of my powdered sugar and it’s still a little bit too runny.
Paul says
Way too runny. Did exactly as instructed. This is very tart. Looks nothing like the picture. Very disappointed. Again, I am fixing recipes on the internet are just not any good. Back to the cooking books
Terry van der Peet says
Way too sweet for my liking
james clifford says
I’m sorry your lemon icing was tart, but it’s not surprising 😁✌️
George says
WAY too runny!
Maribel says
Too sweet for me
Karena Lefaver says
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kenny lofton says
what a fkg idiot lol
Jason Wickham says
My wife and kids love lemon-flavored deserts. I make cakes glazed like this for their birthdays and other special occasions. Great recipe!
Cyndi Roesner says
Worked perfect! I warmed mine in a small sauce pot because I am leery of heating my glass measuring cup in the microwave.
Good consistency and tasty!
Thank you!
H. Jennings says
Cake turned out perfect. Thank you.
Maria says
Best lemon glaze I’ve tried ♥️♥️♥️ Thank you for sharing and for the tips!!
Mavis Hatcher Foster says
I made this yesterday! It is so freakin’ delicious! My family and I absolutely love it!
Jennifer E Levi says
Very good and simple!
Paulette says
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!!!!!!
Carla Garder says
This was absolutely amazing 😋
Sandy says
Easy and quite delicious!
JUDITH CAVENER says
First time trying this recipe and it came out great & so lemony, just the way I like it!
Lisa Allen says
I did not have fresh lemons, so I used bottled lemon juice and lemon extract. Came out great. Thank you
Blair says
So mix the stuff from the microwave into the icing sugar AFTER it comes out of the microwave??? It don’t say where and when to mix in the icing sugar!! Lol
Blair says
Forgive me! I just seen where it goes in! A case of ‘ive read this 5 times over and can’t see it!!’ gone terribly wrong! Lol!!
Karen Hildebrant says
This glaze was the most amazing in every way: taste, texture, etc. Definitely will use this again!
james clifford says
Use ya brain not hard bloke
Dan says
Should have read the comments before I made this. Following the recipe it came out so thin and runny that I ended up starting with 1/2 of the original and about another cup of sugar. In the end it came out alright.
Jen says
this was pretty bad.. tasted just like powdered sugar
Aaron Fallon says
Love this recipe! What do you recommend one does if you accidentally made way too much icing? Is there a way to save it for later?
Bob says
Very good and smooth!
Regina C Wicker-Bey says
Best Lemon Glaze ever Thank you
Christine Lipfert says
this was amazing, used it to top my angel food cake and almost didnt have enough… BECAUSE I COULDNT STOP EATING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dana says
This is delicious and EXACTLY what I was looking for to add to my lemon pound cake recipe. Thank you!
Roger says
Made this last night for a sour cream pound cake. It was excellent! The idea of butter and a pinch of salt is brilliant. This will be my go to lemon drizzle icing from now on. Thanks!
Evelyn Namusi says
Forgot to rate kkk. 5 star
Evelyn Namusi says
Yum!!! I was slightly short on the icing sugar so turned a bit runny after microwaving. Thickened to desired consistency with A couple of tablespoons of cornstarch and it was still great.
#foodcritic says
Came out very nice and smooth, I used it for a twelve inch lemon bundt cake. Was a bit clear but overall turned out very nice and sweet. it cracked in a couple of places toward the top after 5 hours, so I recommend serving shortly after pouring.
Elizabeth D. says
This was absolutely divine! Fresh, tart, sweet, LEMON!
Regina Soroka says
I found it took closer to 2 1/4 cups of powdered sugar yo make a consistency that wasn’t too runny. I also used 1/4 tsp of lemon extract. Came out perfectly puckery.
Carol says
I love this recipe! So easy and delicious. Thank you this ?
Monica D. Driver says
I just made this and it is amazing. And surprisingly easy. Thank you for sharing.
Karlynn Johnston says
So glad that it turned out for you!