Easy Lemon Glaze

You only need 2 ingredients to make this easy lemon glaze! It's the perfect zesty topping for baked goods like cakes, cookies, and scones.

Lemon glaze

This lemon glaze recipe is my favorite way to make everyday baked goods feel a little bit more special. With just 2 ingredients, it’s amazingly easy to make (just add them to a bowl and stir!), and the minimal effort is always worth it. It looks so pretty on top of a loaf cake, cookies, or scones, and it gives them an extra pop of sweet, zesty flavor.

I’m sharing some of my favorite recipes to pair with it in the post below. But really, anytime you want to elevate a simple treat, this lemon glaze will do the trick.

Powdered sugar in bowl with wooden spoon

Lemon Glaze Recipe Ingredients

To make this lemon glaze recipe, you’ll need two basic ingredients:

  • Powdered sugar – Aka confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar. It sweetens the glaze and helps it firm up on top of baked goods. Use store-bought, or make your own!
  • Fresh lemon juice – It makes the glaze smooth and runny and adds bright lemon flavor. Use more or less depending on how thick you want your glaze to be.

Find the complete recipe with measurements below.

Hand using whisk to combine powdered sugar and lemon juice

How to Make Lemon Glaze

This recipe is super quick and easy to stir together!

Place the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice in a medium bowl.

Hand whisking lemon glaze

Whisk to combine, making sure to incorporate all the dry powdered sugar.

Hand whisking smooth lemon glaze in glass bowl

When the glaze is smooth, adjust the consistency to your liking. If it seems too thick, add more lemon juice, 1 teaspoon at time, until the glaze is pourable. That’s it!

Pouring lemon glaze over loaf cake

How to Use Lemon Glaze

To use the glaze, pour or drizzle it over any baked good that has cooled to room temperature. (Don’t add it while the baked goods are still warm. If you do, the glaze will melt!)

I especially like it on fruity or lemony treats, such as…

How do you like to use this easy glaze? Let me know in the comments!

Lemon glaze recipe

More Easy Baking Basics

If you love this recipe, try making one of these baking basics next:

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Lemon Glaze

rate this recipe:
4.98 from 34 votes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Serves 8
This simple lemon glaze is delicious on cakes, cookies, scones, and more! To help the glaze set up nicely, pour it over baked goods after they have cooled completely.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice. Whisk to combine, adding more lemon juice as needed to create a smooth, pourable glaze. 
  • Drizzle over cakes and cookies that have cooled completely after baking. See the blog post above for more ideas to use lemon glaze.

30 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it)




  1. Crystal
    12.24.2023

    Putting this on my Christmas cranberry cake!

  2. TW
    12.14.2023

    5 stars
    Thank you so much! I made cheesecake bite cookies that weren’t very sweet and the texture is more like a moist biscuit. This fixed them right on up!

  3. Cathleen
    10.29.2023

    5 stars
    Such an easy recipe! I used this glaze over gingerbread. The warmth of the spicy cake combined with the cool lemon glaze was delish!

  4. Gene A
    08.16.2023

    Who could believe it could be this simple?!
    I think even I can probably do this one!!
    My wife loves sliced lemon pound cake – you’ve just made it simpler for me to make her some!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.22.2023

      I’m so glad you both loved it!

  5. Pearl
    08.06.2023

    5 stars
    Easy recipe and good.

  6. Poppy
    08.05.2023

    5 stars
    consistency is 10/10, gonna put this on my sweetbread

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.07.2023

      I’m so glad you loved it!

  7. Nancy Bigelow
    08.05.2023

    Lemon glaze is wonderful on bread pudding. 😋

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.07.2023

      I’m so glad you loved it!

  8. 5 stars
    Wonderful glaze. Went very well with my lemon blueberry Muffins. 😋

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      06.10.2023

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

  9. Rhonda
    05.03.2023

    Do you have a weekly newsletter that I can subscribe to?
    Rhonda

  10. Cher torres
    04.14.2023

    Has anyone ever used lemon extract instead? ( no lemons, so thats what i got) and how did that alter the taste or texture? Thankd

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      04.14.2023

      Hi, we haven’t tried this, so I’m not 100% sure how it would work, but I think lemon extract would be great here! Instead of doing a 1:1 substitution with the lemon juice, I’d replace the lemon juice with water or unsweetened almond milk. Then, add lemon extract to taste. I think 1/2 teaspoon would be a good place to start.

  11. Peggy Cooper
    03.10.2023

    I used this glaze on a lemon jelly roll . Delicious.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      03.12.2023

      I’m glad you enjoyed it!

  12. FrankieJane
    01.04.2023

    5 stars
    Wonderful addition to my blueberry scones 😁

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      01.04.2023

      So glad you loved it!

  13. Rhonda from Rhondardorsett.com
    12.26.2022

    5 stars
    Very easy to make, with delicious lemony flavor. I glazed a clementine cake with this and the flavors complemented each other delightfully.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      12.27.2022

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

  14. Andreya W
    11.24.2022

    5 stars
    This was a nice addition to a lemon cake that I baked for the family. I appreciate the simplicity and the taste was good. Thanks!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      11.24.2022

      I’m so glad you loved it!

  15. Sally
    10.02.2022

    5 stars
    This is a great and tasty recipe. I found a few others online that were needlessly complicated. Glad I found this one – no fuss, yet tasty.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      10.08.2022

      Hi Sally, I’m so glad you loved it!

  16. Nancie
    09.27.2022

    5 stars
    Perfectly easy and So Delicious!

    Thank you!!

  17. Claire
    07.23.2022

    4 stars
    Taste a bit to much like pure powder sugar for my taste

    • CJ
      09.04.2023

      Just add more lemon juice!

  18. Marilyn
    04.30.2022

    5 stars
    This was delicious! Will be making it again!!

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.