Small Batch Frostings and Glazes

Need a tiny bit of frosting? Avoid the tempting leftovers and whip up one of these easy small-batch frostings and glazes. Each recipe makes just a few tablespoons or teaspoons. They’re perfect for topping mug cakes, muffins, and more!

After creating these fun cake mix mini cakes for two the natural next step was whipping up some frosting. Unfortunately, I’m a bit of a frosting addict and will devour spoonful after spoonful until my stomach feels queasy. So I wanted a way to make just enough frosting for the mini cakes and nothing more.

Enter these teeny-tiny frostings and glazes. They’ll fancy up your next cakey treat without leaving behind lots of leftovers.

Lemon Glaze

A simple 3-ingredient recipe (sugar, lemon juice, and salt) that’s full of bright lemony flavor. The thinner glaze hardens as it sets and makes a nice compliment to white, yellow, and lemon cakes and can easily be doubled for topping these Raspberry Lemon Corn Muffins.

Quick Chocolate Frosting

This scrumptious frosting is simple, light, and full of tasty chocolate flavor. For a darker frosting with a richer flavor, we like to use 2 teaspoons of regular unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon of Hershey’s Special Dark Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. It tastes great spread on devil’s food and yellow cakes and makes a nice topping for a Baked Buttermilk Donut. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

The rich and tangy flavor tastes best slathered on lemon, spice, chocolate, or carrot cake. We’ve also been known to spread it on this one banana banana bread or graham crackers layered with fresh strawberry slices. Yum!

Vanilla Cream Glaze

This sticky rich-tasting glaze is perfect for those times when you want a basic sweet topping. It’s easy to customize using different spices and extracts, pairs well with pretty much any cake flavor, and is perfect for drizzling over Toaster Oven Baked Pears or a Blueberry Mango Crisp.

If you’re looking for even more topping options, check out this Small Batch Whipped Cream Recipe.

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Small Batch Frosting and Glaze Recipes

Yield: varies by recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Need just a little bit of frosting? Whip up one of these easy to customize frostings or glazes. Each recipe makes only a few teaspoons or tablespoons.

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Ingredients

Lemon Glaze

• 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (or more as needed)
• Tiny pinch salt

Chocolate Frosting

• 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 to 3 teaspoons heavy cream
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Tiny pinch salt

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 tablespoons (1 oz) cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, softened
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
• Tiny pinch salt

Vanilla Cream Glaze

• 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon heavy cream (or more as needed)
• Tiny pinch salt

Instructions

To Make The Lemon Glaze:

1. Whisk together the confectioner’s sugar, lemon juice, and a tiny pinch of salt until smooth. For a thinner glaze, whisk in more lemon juice 1/8 teaspoon at a time. Makes about 1 teaspoon.

To Make The Chocolate Frosting:

1. Cream together the butter, sugar, and cocoa powder using a fork until well combined. Add 2 teaspoons of the heavy cream, the vanilla, and salt. Whisk until light and fluffy adding more of the cream as needed. Makes about 2½ tablespoons.

To Make The Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Cream together the cream cheese and butter with a fork until well combined. Add the vanilla, confectioner’s sugar, and salt. Whisk until smooth. Makes about 2½ tablespoons.

To Make The Cream Glaze:

1. Combine the confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, 1 teaspoon of the cream, and the salt. Whisk until smooth, adding additional cream 1/4 teaspoon at a time until the glaze reaches your desired consistency. The glaze does not harden and will remain tacky. Makes about 1 to 1½ teaspoons.

Notes

Nutritional Information is for the chocolate frosting.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1 tablespoon
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 65Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3.8gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 30mgCarbohydrates: 3.5gFiber: 0.9gSugar: 1.9gProtein: 0.7g