If you want to add a little visual appeal, moisture, and fresh flavor to your bakes, look no further than this easy lemon icing. The simple lemon glaze comes together with just 2 ingredients and in 5 minutes to instantly elevate your desserts.
As a busy mom who loves to bake, I love a baking hack that brings things from boring to bold, and this icing with lemon falls safely in that category!
And between this lemon version and my homemade powdered sugar icing, I have options for every cake, cookie, muffin, and loaf!
This lemon icing is especially delicious drizzled over my Chewy Blueberry Cookies!
Ingredient Highlights for Lemon Icing Recipe
You can squeeze fresh lemon juice or buy lemon juice, just make sure it’s pure and unsweetened.
If using a fresh lemon (one should be plenty, a lemon typically contains about 4 tablespoons of juice), make sure to squeeze the juice into a separate vessel first, so you can remove and seeds or pith that may fall in with the juice.
A citrus squeezer is the best way to extract the most juice from your lemon!
Lemon Glaze Tips and Tricks
How to Make Icing with Lemon Juice
Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and powdered sugar to a large mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer on high until well-combined.
Note: when working with powdered sugar, it’s always best practice to sift it to eliminate lumps.
Admittedly, I sometimes skip this step and allow that hand mixer to do most of the work breaking down the lumps.
Once you’ve mixed the juice and sugar together, let the icing run off a spoon to test the consistency. Slowly add more lemon juice as needed, stirring in between, until you are happy with the thickness.
For spreading keep it on the thicker side, for pouring, you may want to make it a little thinner.
How I Store Lemon Icing and Make it Ahead of Time
This homemade lemon icing has a pretty long shelf life, so you can absolutely make it ahead of time or safely store leftovers.
Keep it in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks. It will likely firm up in the fridge, so thin it out when you’re ready to use it by either heating it up or stirring in a little extra lemon juice (or milk if you’re out of juice!).
Quick 2-Ingredient Lemon Icing
SAVE RECIPE TO COLLECTION PIN PRINT RATEEquipment
- Citrus Squeezer optional
- Sieve optional for sifting powdered sugar
Ingredients
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Sift the powdered sugar into a mixing bowl and add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Whip together with the hand mixer on high.1 cup powdered sugar, 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
- Stir and allow the icing to drip off a spoon to test the consistency. Leave it as is for a thicker icing, or slowly add more lemon juice, stirring in between, to thin it out until you're happy with the thickness. Try it on this Blueberry Coffee Cake!
Pro Tips
- If for some reason you accidentally make it too thin, you can always slowly add a little more powdered sugar.
- This icing lasts up to 3 weeks in the fridge, so it can easily be made ahead of time. It will get firm in the fridge; thin it out by heating it up or stirring in extra lemon juice or milk.
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