3-Ingredient Lemon Glaze

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You only need 3 ingredients for this simply delicious vegan lemon glaze recipe. It’s perfect for drizzling and spreading over cakes, cupcakes, cookies, donuts, and more! (Keto lemon glaze option included!). This 3-Ingredient Lemon Glaze is so easy but will significantly level up your treats!

completed lemon glaze in white bowl with whisk in bowl against white background

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Why You’ll Love this Easy Lemon Glaze Recipe that’s Ready in Minutes!
The Ingredients
Optional Add-ins & Simple Flavored Lemon Icing Glaze Options
How to Make Lemon Glaze Icing?
Toni’s Recipe Tips and Notes
FAQs
How to Make Ahead and Store?
How to Use Lemon Glaze?
More Healthy Vegan Recipes Using Lemon
3-Ingredient Lemon Glaze Recipe

Why You’ll Love this Easy Lemon Glaze Recipe that’s Ready in Minutes!

Ready for a fresh and refreshing burst of sweetness? All you need is 3 ingredients and a couple of minutes to prepare this powdered sugar lemon glaze to the perfect drizzling consistency.

Once mixed, it’s easy to adjust the lemon drizzle icing to your desired consistency and flavor. I’ve listed several variations below, including a keto lemon glaze option! Then it’s ready to pour, drizzle, or brush over all your favorite baked goods. It’s the perfect ‘finisher’ to add something special to all sorts of baked goods, including a lemon glaze for cakes (like this simple lemon loaf), cookies, donuts, pancakes, and more!

The Ingredients

This lemon glaze icing recipe requires just three ingredients (technically two)!

Lemon: You’ll need lemon juice and lemon zest to make a delicious lemon drizzle icing.
Powdered sugar: Use regular powdered sugar/confectioner’s sugar OR for a keto lemon glaze, use a powdered sugar substitute (like erythritol).

To make your own powdered sugar

Don’t have powdered sugar or don’t want to buy it? Follow these steps to easily create powdered sugar from various granulated sugars and sugar-free sweeteners. (Avoid any ‘wet’ sugar like brown sugar, muscovado, etc.) Simply grind your sugar or granulated sweetener of choice in a coffee/spice grinder or high-speed blender. Then, sift into a bowl and re-process any chunkier bits. To make powdered sugar to store and use later, I recommend using 1 cup granulated sugar PLUS 1 tablespoon cornstarch. The latter will stop the sugar from clumping while storing.

ingredients for lemon glaze measured out against white background

Optional Add-ins & Simple Flavored Lemon Icing Glaze Options

There are several ways to easily adjust this powdered sugar lemon glaze, including:

Salt: A pinch of salt will enhance the flavors and balance the sweetness in the lemon cake glaze. All you need is a pinch.
Vegan butter: Add a teaspoon of melted unsalted (or salted) plant-based butter to the lemon icing glaze for a silky mouthfeel and richer flavor.
Strawberry lemon glaze: Either blend and strain strawberries OR combine sliced strawberries and sugar in a small bowl and allow it to macerate. You can then use the juice extracted from the fruit instead of some of the lemon juice in the icing.
**You can use the leftover macerated strawberries in oatmeal, in a vegan parfait, over ice cream, pancakes, waffles, vegan French toast, etc.
Lemon and raspberry drizzle: Use the same method as above, but with raspberries.
Lemon elderflower glaze: Use a teaspoon or so (adjust to taste) of elderflower cordial in place of some lemon juice.
Ginger lemon drizzle icing: Add a small amount of the syrup from a jar of stem ginger in place of some lemon juice.

How to Make Lemon Glaze Icing?

Step 1: First, zest and juice the lemon (in that order!). When zesting the lemon with a microplane, avoid the white pith. Afterwards, save any leftover zest in a Ziplock/Stasher bag in the freezer, to use another time

process of adding sugar to wet ingredients for lemon glaze in white bowl

Step 2: Next, in a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar (or powdered sweetener for keto lemon glaze) and lemon juice. Then, mix/whisk until you achieve a paste-like yet drizzly consistency (like corn syrup). Then fold in the lemon zest.

process of mixing lemon glaze ingredients together

Be careful when you first start to whisk/mix the powdered sugar, as it can cover you and the entire kitchen in a cloud of sugar if you aren’t careful. Start by whisking/mixing in small circles in the center of the bowl.

If you need to thin the lemon drizzle icing further, add more lemon juice, ½ tablespoon at a time.

Toni’s Recipe Tips and Notes

To adjust the thickness: Simply tweak the ratio of ingredients. If you want to thicken the lemon cake glaze without additional powdered sugar, use one of the alternative ingredients listed in the FAQs.
To keep the lemon glaze from setting: If you have to wait a while (for example, for the cake to cool) before using the prepared powdered sugar lemon glaze, place the bowl in a larger bowl of warm water. This will help prevent it from thickening/setting before you’re ready to use it.
For a very thin layer of glaze: It can actually help to spread/pour it over the baked good when it’s just slightly warm as it will melt slightly and thin out.
When adding toppings: Sprinkle them over the glaze before it fully sets, so they can adhere to the top of the baked good.
When glazing cakes/donuts: Place the baked item on a cooling rack above a tray/layer of parchment paper. That way, any excess glaze can drip down. For example, if you’re using the lemon glaze for cookies, you can either dip the cookies into the glaze or use a piping bag to drizzle it over the top.
To get the most juice from the lemon: Make sure it’s at room temperature and roll it back and forth on your kitchen counter several times. For even more juice yield, microwave the lemon for 10-15 seconds and repeat the rolling step, then juice.
To remove any lumps: Gently microwave the glaze icing for 10-15 seconds, then whisk.

FAQs

Is icing sugar the same as confectioners’ sugar?

Yes, these are just different names for the powdered sugar product, depending on where you’re based.

How do you thicken up lemon icing glaze?

Usually, it’s easiest to thicken up with the addition of more powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time. However, if you want to thicken it up without adding extra sugar, you can instead add a tiny amount of cornstarch (literally just ¼-1/2 tsp to begin) OR some flour (1/2 tsp at a time). However, if using the latter, you’ll first need to heat treat the flour.

How long should a cake cool before glazing it?

It should cool completely before adding any glaze/icing. The time to cool will vary on the size and height of the cake, but this can take a good 2-3 hours in some cases.

Can powdered sugar go bad?

When stored well, icing sugar will last almost indefinitely (in a dry, cool, airtight location away from strong smells). However, if it smells odd, has any signs of mold, or even gets insects in it, then it’s time to get rid!

Will lemon glaze harden?

While a glaze icing will ‘set,’ it won’t harden as such. It can still smudge after setting.

How to make glaze icing without lemon flavoring?

Use your favorite plant-based milk instead of lemon juice to make a plain glaze. If preferred, you can then flavor it with natural extracts. You could also substitute the lemon juice for orange juice (and zest), grapefruit juice, lime juice, or pineapple juice for other natural flavors.

How much juice is in a lemon?

One regular-size lemon usually yields between 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice.

How to Make Ahead and Store?

Once prepared, you can store the powdered sugar lemon glaze in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Before using it, bring it back to room temperature and whisk well. If it has thickened, add a few drops of extra liquid (lemon juice, plant-based milk, or water).

How to Use Lemon Glaze?

This lemon icing glaze works well for many baked goods, including:

Lemon Cake: It is, of course, the perfect glaze for lemon cake (regular, Bundt cake, pound cake, lemon drizzle cake, or even this lemon poppy seed snack cake)
Lemon Cupcakes: With or without lemon buttercream frosting.
Lemon Cookies: Like lemon blueberry cookies, lemon lavender cookies, or lemon shortbread cookies.
Loaf Cake: Like this lemon loaf cake, lemon blueberry loaf, or blueberry breakfast bread.
Pastries: Like donuts, fruity crescent rolls, coffee cakes, or berry lemon scones.
Muffins: Level up your favorite muffins, including blueberry muffins or strawberry banana muffins.
Carrot Cake: Lemon pairs well with the sweetness of carrots in carrot cake, carrot cake muffins, carrot cake cookies, or even carrot cake pancakes.
Other Desserts: Especially fruity ones, like raspberry bread pudding, raspberry thumbprint cookies, strawberry oatmeal bars, or strawberry upsidedown cake.

completed lemon loaf against a white background

More Healthy Vegan Recipes Using Lemon

Vegan Lunches

Lemon Dressing

Vegan Drinks

Lemon Cinnamon Ginger Tea

Vegan Desserts

Easy Lemon Popsicles

Vegan Drinks

Cucumber Lemonade

If you tried this 3-ingredient lemon glaze recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks!

Photos by Alfonso Revilla

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