This quick and easy icing is the perfect blueberry glaze for cakes, cheesecakes, donuts, scones or pancakes! Adapt the color of the glaze to your liking or mix shades together to create a marbled effect!
This blueberry glaze is so versatile! It can be made into any shade of your liking and is the perfect icing to liven up simple desserts.
While it doesn't carry a ton of blueberry flavor, you can up the flavors with various extracts or pair it with citrus juice for a lemon blueberry variation.
This glaze is used on my Lemon Ricotta Cake and Glazed Blueberry Donuts! It would also go perfectly on these Earl Grey Scones.
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What Can Blueberry Glaze Be Used For?
This glaze is great to dress cakes (pound cake, Bundt Cake, loaf cake, angel food cake), to ice donuts or scones, for cheesecakes or pancakes, and even to frost cookies!
Ingredient Notes
- Blueberries. Fresh or frozen blueberries can be used for the glaze.
- Powdered sugar. Sift the powdered sugar for the smoothest results.
- Liquid. I like to use heavy cream, but you can also use milk, water, citrus juice, or really any liquid to loosen up the glaze to a pourable consistency. I like to use heavy cream, as I think it produces the best color shades!
- Vanilla. I like to add a touch of vanilla paste or extract to help balance out the flavor.
How to Make Blueberry Glaze
STEP 1: Add fresh or frozen blueberries to a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the juices begin to release and the blueberries start to burst and break down.
STEP 2: Pass the blueberries through a fine-mesh sieve to separate the puree from the skins. Allow the puree to cool fully.
STEP 3: Add sifted powdered sugar to a bowl, then add the blueberry puree and mix it into a paste. From there, add the liquid a tablespoon at a time, stirring until the desired consistency is formed.
STEP 4: Spoon or pour the glaze over your baked goods, then enjoy!
Hot tip! If the glaze is too runny, add more powdered sugar. If it's too stiff, add more liquid or blueberry puree (only 1 teaspoon at a time) until the desired consistency is formed. Test on an upside-down glass (or a small portion of the baked good) to see how it falls and adjust from there.
Making the Color Variations
This blueberry glaze can be made into a variety of color shades. Follow the steps below to create a light, medium, or dark shade of glaze and adjust to your liking.
Note that color can vary by batch of blueberries, so puree to liquid adjustments can also vary each time.
Light Colored Glaze
To make the lightest shade of blueberry glaze, combine the powdered sugar with ½ tablespoon of blueberry puree, then add 3-4 tablespoons of heavy cream.
Adding more powdered sugar and heavy cream will continue to lighten the glaze.
Medium Colored Glaze
To make the medium shade of blueberry glaze, combine the powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon of blueberry puree, then add 1-3 tablespoons of heavy cream.
Adding more powdered sugar and heavy cream will continue to lighten the glaze, adding more blueberry puree will darken the glaze.
Dark Colored Glaze
To make the darkest shade of blueberry glaze, combine the powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of blueberry puree, then add 1-2 tablespoons of liquid.
If you want a super dark glaze, use water, milk, or citrus juice rather than heavy cream.
Marbled Glaze
To make a marbled glaze, combine two or three of the color shades and give it a few stirs, making sure streaks of each color remain.
Then, slowly pour the glaze over the baked good for a nice marbled effect.
Whole Blueberry Sauce
If you don't want to make the glaze and would just like a blueberry sauce, instead, follow these instructions:
- Cook down the blueberries with 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar until the juices release, but the berries remain slightly whole still.
- Once it gets to this point, mix together 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water, then stir it into the blueberries.
- Stir constantly for thirty seconds as the mixture thickens, then transfer the sauce to a bowl and allow it to cool.
Instead of using granulated sugar, honey or maple syrup can also be used to sweeten the blueberry sauce.
Storing Instructions
Pour the glaze into a container and press cling wrap directly on the surface. Cover the container, then store it in the fridge (if using milk or cream) for one week.
To revive the glaze, whisk it and add more liquid a bit at a time, as the glaze will have stiffened up in the fridge.
I do not recommend freezing the glaze.
FAQs & Tips
To make the icing drizzle, be sure the glaze is at a consistency that is pourable, but not too runny. It should very slowly run down the cake or baked good.
To do thin drips, it's best to use a piping bag to drizzle over the edges (for most control), then carefully fill in the top.
More Blueberry Recipes
- Lemon Ricotta Cake with Blueberry Glaze
- Glazed Blueberry Donuts
- Blueberry White Chocolate Ganache Tart
- Jumbo Blueberry Muffins
- Blueberry Pie Bars
- Blueberry Cheesecake No-Churn Ice Cream
Did you make this recipe? Tag me on Instagram or Facebook and leave a star rating⭐️ below! For more ideas, follow me on Pinterest.
📖Recipe
Easy Blueberry Glaze for Desserts
Equipment
- Small saucepan
- Fine mesh sieve
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk
- Small rubber spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen (150g)
- 1½ cups powdered sugar sifted (180g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract optional
- 1-4 tablespoons water, cream, milk, or citrus juice
Instructions
- Add the blueberries to a small saucepan over medium heat and stir occasionally until the juices begin to release.
- Use a rubber spatula to begin pushing on the blueberries to help them along.
- Set a fine mesh sieve on top of a bowl then pass the blueberries through the sieve to separate the puree from the skins.
- Allow the blueberry puree to cool completely (place it in the fridge to help this process along).
- Measure one cup of powdered sugar, then sift it into a bowl.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of blueberry puree and whisk it together to form a thick paste.
- From here, add one tablespoon at a time of water, heavy cream, or milk, whisking in between each addition, until a pourable consistency forms.
Bobby Langford
Does this glaze harden when it is cooled?
Callan Wenner
The outside hardens into a bit of a shell/coating but the underneath stays soft!
Arden Ann Shira
I can’t thank you enough for your instructions on how to prepare a blueberry gaze, and most importantly, how to adjust the color of the glaze, as I adored the darkest color I ran across in a NY Times picture but could not find out how to achieve it!
Also would like to thank you for your precise and very clear instructions. I will let you know how my lemon blueberry cake turns out.
The Cozy Plum
Ahh this is such a nice comment, and I'm really glad you found it helpful! Can't wait to see how it turns out!
Eve P Novak
Arden Ann Shira, I'd love to hear how it turned out!!