Perfect Raspberry Glaze (2024)

Have you ever made a glaze that soaked right into your cake and just disappeared? Not anymore!

This Raspberry Glaze is thick and smooth, the perfect raspberry icing for cake or other desserts. It uses a bit of butter to give it a creamy consistency and cut through the sharp powdered sugar taste, leaving you with a sweet but flavorful raspberry drizzle.

Raspberry desserts - Raspberry Crumble Bars, White Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Cake, and White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake - show up at many of our special occasions. They are all great for serving to a crowd!

If you haven't decided what to put this glaze on, it's a perfect topping for our Lemon Loaf Cake, Lemon Scones, or one of many easy dessert recipes. We also have a Fresh Orange Glaze, Lemon Icing Glaze and a Maple Glaze that are delicious as well.

🏅 Why this recipe is great

• It's a quick and easy recipe.
• Versatile - It's the right consistency for cakes, scones, donuts, and more!
• Doesn’t soak in and disappear.
• You can use fresh or frozen raspberries - whatever you have on hand.

A full list and ingredient quantities are in the recipe card below, but here are a few noteworthy tips:

• Raspberries: Fresh or frozen raspberries are perfect.
• Lemon: The juice from a lemon helps to cut the sweetness and brighten the fruit flavor.
• Butter: It’s just a touch of butter so either salted or unsalted butter can be used.
• Cornstarch: This helps to thicken the raspberry mixture so that the final product is the perfect consistency.

🥣 How to make raspberry glaze

This is a quick two part process. The first part is basically like making a raspberry coulis (easy raspberry sauce) which gets thickened to the right consistency for glazing.

First, for the homemade raspberry sauce, combine the raspberries, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Cook over low to medium heat, until the raspberry juice starts to release. Stir occasionally, smashing the berries against the side to break them up.

Once it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, pull off the heat and strain through a wire mesh strainer (affiliate) (fine mesh sieve) into a small bowl. Discard seeds, and allow the smooth sauce to cool to room temperature.

Next, whisk or blend the butter, powdered sugar (icing sugar), vanilla extract, and raspberry sauce together until desired consistency. Boom! Glaze is done!

How do I pick flavorful raspberries?

Fresh raspberries that are in season are always more flavorful. However, if they're out of season or the fresh raspberries you find are not very flavorful, try using frozen. Frozen berries are picked at their peak of ripeness and are perfect for this application.

How do you keep a glaze from soaking in a cake?

First, only pour on the glaze when the cake is completely cool, that way the icing doesn’t melt. Second, use a glaze that uses a bit of butter. The extra fat content helps hold the glaze together so it holds a nice layer instead of dissolving into the cake.

How do you store glaze?

You can store this glaze in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week, then gently warm it before using until it’s the desired consistency. Once you drizzle it on your cake, it will stay good for 2-3 days at room temperature.

👨🏼‍🍳 Tips & Tricks

• Cook raspberries on low heat until juices are flowing and cornstarch is dissolved.
• Don’t skip the butter or cornstarch. They are what helps the texture of this glaze hold up perfectly on baked goods.

📖 Other fruit recipes

• Individual Fruit Pizzas - Fresh berries and other summertime fruit make these the perfect dessert when the weather is warm!
• Orange Cake - Made with orange juice and zest it's a tasty breakfast or dessert!
• Strawberry Cheesecake Bars - The next time you want a throwback treat try these!