Making strawberry glaze is quick and easy. Only 2 ingredients are needed for this recipe that you can flavor and adjust for sweetness depending on what you use it for. It's perfect for glazing cakes, scones, donuts, and pastries. It lasts a lot in the refrigerator and can be frozen.
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Strawberry glaze is a very simple way of dressing or enhancing loaf and bundt cakes, scones, and cookies.
The other ingredient is powdered sugar and it doesn't have a substitution.
It's great for when you have a small number of leftover strawberries or very ripe ones that have seen better days. Blend them with sugar and freeze them for later use.
This homemade strawberry topping relies on fresh natural flavors so you know it'll taste amazing.
Uses for strawberry glaze
- Plain cakes: powdered sugar glaze is a staple in this blog and one of my favorite ways to spruce up simple cakes like the strawberry pound cake below. Other cakes that go well with it are lemon bundt cake, orange sour cream cakes, vanilla poppy seed cake, and even a chocolate bundt cake if you like to try a different combination.
- Scones: drizzle it over them and create an eye-catching pink icing as we do for the fresh strawberry scones below. Other flavors that go well with this icing are orange scones and lemon scones.
- Cookies: some are great with a light drizzle of this icing, like the lemon shortbread cookies or pistachio snowballs.
- Donuts: dip them in it and have beautiful doughnuts. Lemon, plain, chocolate, and orange, are all flavors that go well with this glaze. Find more donut recipes here.
- Pastries: breakfast danish (like the strawberry danish braid) and croissants taste and look gorgeous with this glaze.
- Breakfast and brunch staples: if you like very sweet mornings, you can use it on waffles and french toast instead of syrup. I find it too much sweetness. But your palate might be very different.
Ingredients
Just two ingredients to make this berry glaze. You can add other ingredients such as lemon juice or vanilla extract, and that is all explained in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Strawberries: when in season use fresh strawberries if possible. Frozen berries also work but they have more water content so the flavor is sometimes weaker.
- Powdered sugar: there is no alternative or substitution for it. Also called confectioners' sugar or icing sugar, you can easily buy it online. Domino powdered sugar is a very popular one.
- Optional: lemon juice, orange juice, vanilla extract, liquor of your choice.
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to make a strawberry glaze
It's simple, you have to make a plain strawberry puree (no sugar) and mix it with powdered sugar.
Both a regular blender and an immersion blender will render perfect results for the puree. A food processor most times won't completely disintegrate the fruit, so I don't recommend it. Unless you want a chunky mixture.
Immersion blender
I find this is the best and easiest way to do it because you do it directly in the bowl you're using.
Break up strawberry pieces with the immersion blender.
Process it until completely smooth and no chunks remain.
Blender
In terms of easiness, it's similar to the one above, but the puree is harder to take out of the jar afterward. Add strawberries to the blender jar. Blend until completely pureed.
Super smooth puree: if you want a seedless perfect puree, you can sieve the blended strawberry mixture. I tried it with a very fine mesh sieve but it did not go through easily as the puree is thick. You'll have to be patient as the seeds are there but quite disintegrated.
Variations
Strawberries pair well with several flavors and they can be added to this easy glaze recipe.
- Citrus - lemon, orange, and lime, all pair very well with strawberries. My rule is that if the strawberries are very sweet (usually seasonal ones) I use lemon or lime juice. If they taste more acidic I use orange or tangerine juice that adds sweetness.
- Alcohol - a tablespoon of champagne, golden rum, Cointreau, or Grand Marnier is wonderful if you want a boozy strawberry puree.
- Flavorings - add a few drops of pure vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, fresh mint, or fresh basil, to add another layer of flavor depending on what you're using it for.
- Other berries: simply substitute the strawberries for blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries.
Kitchen notes
- Organization: read the recipe first and make sure you have ingredients at the right temperatures, equipment needed, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier!
- Frozen strawberries: you can use them straight from the freezer. If they have too much ice around them (something that happens when they've been frozen for a long time) thaw them a little just to release some of the icy water, not the juices. The strawberry itself will still be pretty frozen.
- How thick or thin do you like it? You can add more or less strawberry puree until you have the desired consistency.
- Storing: it keeps for weeks in the refrigerator, well covered, or in an airtight container. And a month in the freezer. If refrigerated, stir it vigorously before using it so it's smooth again.
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Strawberry Glaze or Icing (for cake, donuts)
Making strawberry glaze is quick and easy. Only 2 ingredients are needed for this recipe that you can flavor and adjust for sweetness depending on what you use it for. It's perfect for glazing cakes, scones, donuts, and pastries. It lasts a lot in the refrigerator and can be frozen.
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 cup
Instructions
- Mix half of the strawberry puree with the powdered sugar in a bowl and check to see the consistency. It should be like thick honey.
- Add more strawberry puree if needed to adjust depending if you want a thicker or thinner glaze or icing.
- Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container or well covered.
Notes
- Organization: read the recipe first and make sure you have ingredients at the right temperatures, equipment needed, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier!
- Frozen strawberries: you can use them straight from the freezer. If they have too much ice around them (something that happens when they've been frozen for a long time) thaw them a little just to release some of the icy water, not the juices. The strawberry itself will still be pretty frozen.
- How thick or thin do you like it? You can add more or less strawberry puree to make the type of glaze you want.
- Storing: it keeps for weeks in the refrigerator, well covered, or in an airtight container. And a month in the freezer. If refrigerated, stir it vigorously before using it so it's smooth again.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Basic recipes
- Method: Blending + mixing
- Cuisine: International
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ⅛
- Calories: 60
- Sugar: 15 g
- Sodium: 0.4 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 15.4 g
- Fiber: 0.1 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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