This sweet and spicy confectioner’s sugar ginger glaze recipe is the perfect little burst of flavor for cookies, cakes, and muffins.
This ginger glaze recipe was originally a bit of an afterthought, but it really turned out to be the star of the show with a batch of cookies I made recently. This glaze is a zingy, bright, flavorful topping for cozy baked goods and I think it would work beautifully with so many different types of cookie and cake recipes, cupcakes, and quick breads. The spicy ginger in this glaze really packs a punch and will add so much life to things like gingerbread loaf or even something like my 3 ingredient pumpkin bread in the autumn months. Don’t wait until the weather cools off again, though, to try this recipe because ginger is such an unexpectedly good pairing with so many fruit flavors like melon, pineapple, pear, peach, and orange. Keep this easy-to-make two-minute recipe up your sleeve for when you want a quick topper to elevate so many of your basic baking recipes.
Another great baking booster recipe: Microwave Chocolate Glaze With Cocoa Powder
Ingredients Needed for the Ginger Glaze Recipe
This is a really simple three-ingredient recipe that comes together quickly and easily without any cooking required.
You’ll need:
- Powdered confectioner’s sugar
- Milk or any non-dairy alternative such as almond milk, coconut milk, or oat milk
- Ginger powder
That’s it! The flavor you can get with basic dry ginger spice is pretty impressive, considering that most of us neglect it in our spice cabinet throughout most of the year, even though it’s something most of us always have on hand. Although using fresh grated, minced, or sliced ginger might be more exciting and gourmet, I love the simplicity and ease of using dried ginger for busy everyday life.
How to Make Ginger Glaze for Baked Goods
Unlike my almond glaze, this recipe uses a powdered spice for flavoring, rather than a liquid extract, but it comes together just as easily. If you’re used to making icing or glaze with just powdered sugar and milk, or with a liquid like vanilla extract, you’ll find that this gingered version requires quite a bit more liquid to achieve the right consistency for drizzling, but don’t worry, I’ve detailed all that on the recipe card below.
My learning experience with this recipe was that I discovered that dried ginger is actually quite absorbant and I’m sure that information will come in handy at some point in some future baking project. After making the slight adjustments needed, I still love that there’s no need to cook this glaze at a simmer the way you do with some. Just mix and drizzle!
Preparing the Glaze
Before you begin, it’s important to allow whatever you’ve baked to cool completely before you make your glaze. If you’ve baked a cake, let it come to room temperature, and then begin preparing your glaze because the glaze will begin to set quite quickly, so you want to use it right away. There’s no need to make the drizzle ahead of time.
To make this glaze, start out by spooning the icing sugar into a dry measuring cup using a tablespoon and level it off with a knife to make sure you have exactly the right amount. Add that to a small bowl. Next, measure out the powdered ginger and mix it into the sugar, making sure that everything is as evenly distributed as possible.
Start by adding two tablespoons of milk to your sugar and ginger mix and whisking it together, removing lumps as much as possible. You’ll need to add more milk at this point, but you want to do so very slowly. Pour another half teaspoon of milk into the mixture and stir again, checking the consistency by lifting your whisk and watching the glaze fall.
Continue adding more milk in one teaspoon increments, stirring well after each addition, until your desired drizzle consistency is reached. If you find that you have a remaining lump or two, whip the mixture vigorously and the whisking should remove them quite easily.
Ideas for Using the Ginger Drizzle
This baking topper could be used in so many different ways on coffee cakes, loaf cakes, and Christmas cookies. Aside from the wonderful fruit flavor pairings listed above, this glaze is also a perfect pairing for any baked goods made with spices like cinnamon and cloves.
I love the idea of adding this ginger glaze drizzle to the top of my apple-cider flavored 3 ingredient applesauce bread, expecially on top of an easy streusel topping. Sunday morning cinnamon rolls would be absolutely decadent if you replaced the basic icing with a ginger topping instead.
I topped my orange marmalade thumbprint cookies with this ginger glaze to pair with my after-dinner tea, but I’d love to try it on top of classic ginger molasses cookies and oatmeal cookies as well.
Here’s the full printable recipe.
This sweet and spicy confectioner's sugar ginger glaze recipe is the perfect little burst of flavor for cookies, cakes, and muffins.
- 1 cup Icing sugar
- 4 tsp Powdered ginger
- 3-4 tbsp Milk or a non-dairy alternative
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Spoon the icing sugar into a small bowl. Add the ginger and stir both dry ingredients together, creating an even mixture.
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Add 2 tbsp of the milk to begin with and mix vigorously with a whisk until everything is as smooth as possible.
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Add about 1 tsp more milk and mix again, breaking up any lumps as you go. Continue adding more milk in 1 tsp increments, stirring after each addition until the desired consistency for drizzling is reached.
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Use immediately on cooled baked goods and allow the glaze to set for about 20-30 minutes before serving or transferring to a container for storage.
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.