Maple Glaze

This maple glaze is perfect for donuts, bread, cakes, muffins and more! The flavor is bold and sweet, and it sets up beautifully.

Want to add a pop to your baked goods? Try this easy maple glaze, perfect for donuts, quick breads, cakes, muffins, and more! In just 5 minutes, you can whip up a sweet glaze with a bold flavor that’s bursting with maple essence. You can customize the maple flavor to taste, so it’s just what you need for different recipes. It’s ideal for pumpkin bread, baked donuts, and more!

Ingredients for maple glaze

This easy maple glaze requires just 6 ingredients and has a quick prep time. It also sets nicely at room temperature, so it stays solid instead of becoming sticky like other glazes. The key? Maple extract, which brings just the right intensity of maple flavor. Technically you can make a maple glaze without extract, but it’s what brings in the true, pure maple flavor. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

• Powdered sugar
• Butter, salted or unsalted
• Maple syrup
• Salt
• Maple extract
• Milk of choice

For a vegan version of this glaze, use vegan butter and your non-dairy milk of choice (we like oat milk).

The secrets to this maple glaze

There are secrets to the bold flavor and robust texture of this maple glaze recipe: maple extract and butter. The butter is such a game-changer for homemade glazes and icings, because it makes them more stable at room temperature. Here’s what to know:

• Maple extract is a flavoring made from steeping maple syrup in a neutral syrup, like vodka or grain alcohol, for a few weeks to extract the flavor. The extract has a much stronger maple flavor than the syrup itself, which is very neutral. It’s the same idea as using vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean! You can adjust the intensity of the maple to taste here.
• Butter used in this maple glaze is what lets it set up as solid at room temperature. Other types of glazes can become sticky at room temperature storage (especially this cream cheese glaze), but this maple glaze sets beautifully.

Whisk and adjust as needed

This maple glaze is similar to other powdered sugar icings and glazes: it’s simply a matter of whisking a few ingredients in a bowl. You can add additional liquid as necessary until the glaze comes to the desired consistency. Here’s what to know:

• Gradually add the milk. The milk quantity specified below should create a smooth, glossy texture to the maple glaze. Add it gradually to make sure it comes to a thick yet drizzle-able texture.
• Add more a hint more milk as necessary. If it’s not yet to the correct consistency, add liquid a teaspoon at a time until the desired texture is reached.
• Taste the glaze and add more maple extract if desired. Want a super maple-y glaze? Simply add a few more drops of maple at a time until the flavor pops. It’s pretty potent stuff, so add it just a bit at a time!
• Use a fork to drizzle the glaze across the bread. This gets a much better drizzle consistency than a spoon, which makes very large lines.

Ways to use maple glaze

The best ways to use this maple glaze? We love using this one as a pumpkin bread glaze or for baked donuts. But there are so many other ways! Here are a few top ways to use maple glaze:

• Donuts like Baked Donuts or Mini Donuts
• Bundt cakes or pound cakes
• Sheet cakes like pumpkin cake or applesauce cake
• Cookies like applesauce cookies or pumpkin cookies
• Quick breads like apple bread, applesauce bread, banana bread, Pumpkin Bread or Zucchini Bread
• Scones like pumpkin scones
• Muffins like apple cinnamon muffins, sweet potato muffins, banana muffins, or banana oatmeal muffins

Storage info

Allow approximately 20 minutes for the glaze to dry. The glazed bread stores up to 5 days at room temperature (without getting sticky!) or for best results, store refrigerated up to 10 days. 

More glaze recipes

Want more tasty glaze recipes for your baked goods? Here are a few more to try:

• Go for Vanilla Glaze or Easy Chocolate Glaze
• Make Easy Cream Cheese Glaze
• Mix up Easy Lemon Glaze

01

Vanilla Glaze

02

Easy Chocolate Glaze

03

Easy Cream Cheese Glaze

04

Easy Lemon Glaze

This maple glaze recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, use vegan butter and non-dairy milk.

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