This 5-ingredient brownie icing recipe is rich and chocolatey and so fast and easy to make. It stirs together in minutes for a thick and glossy chocolate glaze for your favorite homemade brownie recipe or to dress up a boxed brownie mix.
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I think fudgy brownies are the perfect dessert. Red Velvet Oreo Brownies, Greek Yogurt Brownies, Strawberry Brownies -- I love them all. Especially when they're slathered in rich chocolate frosting. And this is the chocolate glaze recipe I use on my favorite classic chocolate brownie recipe.
This delicious frosting is intensely chocolatey, stirs together in minutes with 5 ingredients, and is the perfect finishing touch for your next batch of brownies, cookies, cakes, and doughnuts.
You’re going to love this
- Easy brownie frosting recipe you can stir together in minutes.
- Versatile chocolate icing recipe is the perfect frosting for coffee cakes, pound cakes, red velvet desserts, cookies, and doughnuts.
- Easy to make as thick or thin as you like, so you can drizzle it over your homemade brownies, or spread it on thick.
- The BEST frosting for gooey, rich brownies. I always use this chocolate glaze recipe for these fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies.
Ingredients
This brownie icing recipe comes together with very simple ingredients. See the recipe card for the full ingredients list.
Confectioners' sugar. To avoid any grittiness, sift the powdered sugar. For the smooooooothest chocolate glaze, use organic powdered sugar. It's made with tapioca starch instead of cornstarch and has a smoother mouth feel.
Dark chocolate cocoa powder. Dark cocoa powder makes this chocolate frosting intensely dark and chocolatey.
Espresso powder. Espresso powder gives chocolate a chocolatier flavor. It's kind of a secret ingredient ;).
Substitutions
Cocoa powder. You can substitute regular unsweetened cocoa powder for dark cocoa powder. It just won't have that dark chocolate color or rich, deep chocolate flavor.
Espresso powder. Espresso powder is optional, so no worries if you don't have it. But if you’d like to add coffee flavor, you can substitute the milk with strong coffee. You can also use instant coffee crystals, but the flavor will be a bit muted.
Unsweetened almond milk. You can use water, coffee, whole milk, skim milk -- whatever you have.
Instructions
Step 1: Combine powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and espresso powder in a medium bowl. Stir to remove any lumps. You can also sift them together.
Step 2: Add the vanilla extract, then the almond milk. Start with 2 tablespoons of milk and add more, a little bit at a time, until it reaches your desired consistency.
Step 3: Frost your cooled pan of brownies with this delicious chocolate icing recipe.
Step 4: Dig in right away or let the frosting set for about 30 minutes. It will harden as it sets.
This recipe makes enough creamy chocolate glaze to frost an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan of brownies. Double the recipe for a 9 x 13 pan of brownies.
Expert Tips
- For best results, sift or stir the dry ingredients together before adding the wet ingredients to get rid of any lumps.
- Add the milk a little bit at a time. It doesn’t take much to go from not enough to too much.
- If you add too much milk and your chocolate glaze is too thin, add more powdered sugar until you reach the right consistency.
Recipe FAQs
Store chocolate glaze for brownies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To make it spreadable again, bring it to room temperature or warm in the microwave for a couple of seconds and stir.
Powdered sugar icing is really easy to make with powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Add cocoa powder and a little espresso powder to turn it into chocolate brownie icing.
This powdered sugar glaze for brownies will firm up as it sets, typically in about 30 minutes. When set, the top of the frosting will have a smooth, matte finish.
Let the brownies cool completely for about 2 hours on a wire rack before frosting with chocolate icing.
Chocolate brownies with powdered sugar glaze can be stored tightly covered in plastic wrap or in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
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📖 Recipe
Chocolate Brownie Icing
Ingredients
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon espresso powder, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3-5 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk, milk, or water
Instructions
- Combine powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and espresso powder in a medium bowl. Stir to remove any lumps. You can also sift them together.
- Add the vanilla extract, then the almond milk. Start with 2 tablespoons of milk and add more, a little bit at a time, until it reaches your desired consistency.
- Frost your cooled pan of brownies with this delicious chocolate icing recipe. It will harden as it sets.
- This recipe makes enough creamy chocolate glaze to frost an 8x8 or 9x9 pan of brownies. Double the recipe for a 9 x 13 pan of brownies.
I was not very pleased with this recipe. I put these on my grandma’s fudge brownies, a recipe my family loves. I found that it had ruined them. It was to bitter and had a grainy texture. It was as if you put chocolate to rest. My family was disappointed to find the two pans of brownies I had made were ruined as they were for after dinner with my father’s boss. I’m sorry to leave such a negative review but I just don’t think it right to let others ruin their brownies to.
Alyssa, I am sorry you and your family were disappointed by this recipe. I can't detect the coffee flavor in this frosting, but I wonder if the espresso powder you used was particularly strong and caused a bitter flavor? You can certainly omit it. As for grainy, sifting the powdered sugar and cocoa powder through a fine mesh strainer can certainly help get rid of any clumps. If you were picking up the texture of the cornstarch from the powdered sugar, I recommend trying organic powdered sugar. It uses tapioca starch instead of cornstarch and has a smoother consistency. I hope this is helpful. Cara
Why didn't you taste test it before putting it on the brownies? Respectfully, this sounds like it could've been avoided on your part. My own personal rule - never make a new recipe for company, without taste testing it first.