Powdered Sugar Icing Recipe

(Last Updated On: August 18, 2022)

This powdered sugar icing recipe has only four ingredients in it, butter, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. It is super easy to make. It tastes like a cream frosting with the butter and vanilla added. This icing recipe is perfect for decorating sugar cookies. And it’s terrific tasting when spread, drizzled, or spooned on many other desserts as well.

Making this icing at home, instead of buying frosting in the grocery store, gives you peace of mind knowing exactly what’s in it.

When I was a kid, my mother made this icing all the time for the frosting on cookies. It’s the best sugar cookie icing there is! Sometimes, especially for the sugar cookies, my mom would use just a tiny squirt of red food coloring to color the icing pink. For some reason, it always seemed to taste better being pink. 🙂

Note: The icing we are making is a little in between icing and glaze. Depending on how thick or thin you want your icing to be, just add more liquid for thinner icing, and less liquid if you need it thicker. Also, you can eliminate the butter and the vanilla extract if you prefer. There are even some recipes that use water instead of milk.

We like this powdered sugar icing recipe because of the added flavors the butter, milk, and vanilla extract give it. Without the milk, butter, and vanilla, and just using powdered sugar and water instead, the icing still tastes good, especially if you are drizzling the icing over something tasty and sweet in the first place.

🧁Key Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of butter – softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons of milk
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

👩‍🍳How to Make Powdered Sugar Icing (Step-by-Step Instructions with Detailed Photos)

Step 1. Softened the Butter

In a medium-size microwave-safe bowl, melt 1/2 cup of butter in the microwave just until soft, which is about 20 seconds.

Step 2. Add the Powdered Sugar to the Softened Butter

Gradually add 3 cups of powdered sugar to the melted butter.

Note: If you want lump-free icing, sift the powdered sugar now using a sifter. For this particular icing, we did not sift the powdered sugar, and the icing turned out great.

Step 3. Add the Milk and Vanilla Extract

Mix thoroughly 3 tablespoons of milk a little at a time together with the powdered sugar mixture. Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and mix thoroughly. It is a lot easier if you mix the ingredients with a hand mixer if you have one. A spatula will work fine though.

Tip: Also, make sure to add the milk a little at a time. This gives you an idea of how thick or thin you want your icing to be. Maybe you won’t need 3 tablespoons of milk, so go slow pouring while you are mixing so you can see the desired consistency or thickness you want.

You can substitute 1 teaspoon of almond extract instead of the 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Also, you can add 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder to make chocolate powdered sugar icing.

Remember that powdered sugar icing is so forgiving. Take the edge off the guesswork. If it’s too thin for your liking, add less liquid and extra powdered sugar, or if it’s too thick, add more liquid. When we made this loaf of applesauce cake, the powdered sugar icing was made a tad bit thinner, which spread over the top nice and even.

❓ FAQs for this Recipe

💡 Final Thoughts

Use powdered sugar right out of the bag as a dusting on desserts such as lemon bars and brownies. Or use powdered sugar to make this easy powdered sugar icing recipe for frosting, icing, or glaze on ranger cookies, muffins, banana bread, cinnamon rolls, and donuts. Also, powdered sugar icing tastes fantastic on applesauce cake, cupcakes, cherry coffee cake, yellow cake, white cake, and chocolate cake.

Think of the many creative possibilities you can muster up for birthday parties, celebrations, or that special occasion for your loved one. You can use food coloring, and even mix up the food coloring for that “just-right” color you need for your cakes and cookies. You can also add sprinkles on top of the icing to decorate the top of cake or cupcakes, or whatever you are making.

So spread or drizzle or spoon or pour (depending on how thick or thin you decide to make your icing) over your favorite cakes, cookies, and desserts. The taste is so delicious.

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