Buttery Cinnamon Brown Sugar Glaze for Donuts, Vegan

Deeply sweet and flavorful, brown sugar glaze for donuts is spiced with cinnamon, buttery, and rich. Pour a thick layer over bundt cake, cookies, quick breads, and of course donuts for a flavorful sweet treat.

This year I finally broke down and posted my favorite recipe for Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts. They were fabulous! But I didn’t like the thin flavorless powdered sugar glaze that tops most donuts.

I mean, I guess that’s okay for glazed donuts…but cakey sweet donuts really need a little something extra. So I made my delicious browned butter glaze and in the process created this yummy cinnamon brown sugar glaze!

Like my browned butter glaze, this is a thick glaze, not thin and runny. It’s almost like frosting…except it hardens like a glaze. It’s like donut glaze and frosting got married and had a baby. This flavorful buttery brown sugar glaze is the best of both worlds!

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Ingredients needed to make cinnamon brown sugar glaze for donuts

• butter – I use vegan butter sticks (don’t use tub butter)
• brown sugar
• cinnamon
• plant milk – I use oat milk
• cornstarch
• powdered sugar
• vanilla
• salt
• You will also need a non-stick saucepan (affiliate link)

How to make the best vegan brown sugar glaze for donuts, bundt cake, cookies, and more

Step 1: Melting the vegan butter with the brown sugar and cinnamon

Place the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a heavy-bottomed non-stick sauce pan and melt on medium while stirring the whole time. This will take several minutes. You will want to make sure the butter is fully melted before adding in the other ingredients.

If you do use dairy butter then use salted rather than unsalted. This recipe was developed using plant butter which is salted.

Step 2: Adding the plant milk and cornstarch

Whisk together the plant milk and the cornstarch. Cornstarch will help the thick glaze hold together a little better as it hardens.

If you are not vegan, just like the butter, you may use the milk of your choosing. We are a vegan family and so I use milk made from plants. My favorite is oat milk. It’s rich and creamy and is perfect for this vegan icing.

Add in the cornstarch and milk mixture and stir as you are heating for about another minute. You want the mixture to *almost* boil – but not quite.

Step 3: Stirring in the powdered sugar

Remove from heat and stir in the powdered sugar – about half at a time. You don’t need to use an electric mixer, but you will need to put some muscle behind it.

I stir in the powdered sugar right in the pan I used to heat the other ingredients. Use a silicone coated whisk or wooden spoon to stir so that you don’t damage the bottom of your pan.

Step 4: Finishing up

Add the vanilla, give it a taste and add in a pinch of salt if needed. (I usually need it!) Each brand of vegan butter will have a slightly different taste which is why we add the pinch of salt at the end.

The best texture for this vegan icing is slightly runny when warm. You will want to be able to pour it easily on your (still warm) baked goods or hand dip smaller items like donuts and muffins and have it stick.

If the brown sugar icing is too thick to easily stir and pour, add in a little more plant milk a couple of teaspoons at a time.

Step 5: The best step – decorating!

It is important the sweet glaze be warm and runny. If it is too thick then it won’t properly coat and stick to your baked goods. If it gets cold it will harden too quickly. You can reheat this glaze one or maybe two times before it gets hard and grainy.

It’s also best if your baked goods are still a little warm before pouring on the glaze. This way they will cool at the same time and your glaze will be less likely to crack.

I try to time it so the glaze will be ready before the baked item completely cools. Sometimes I’ll even wrap the baked item in foil to keep it warm

To keep my glaze warm while dipping small items like donuts or cookies, I often keep the pan of glaze over a pan of hot water – the same concept as a double boiler.

Carefully dip so that you don’t burn yourself and have a fork or spoon handy to fetch your baked item out of the hot icing if you accidentally drop it.

Use this glaze on the following tasty baked goods from Veggie Fun Kitchen:

• Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts
• Apple Cider Donuts (coming soon)
• Gingerbread Donuts (coming soon)
• Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread
• Pumpkin Muffins
• Banana Cookies
• Apple Pumpkin Bundt Cake

For some other tasty vegan recipes for icing, frosting, glaze, and sweet toppings try my:

• Browned Butter Glaze
• Coconut Milk Whipped Topping
• Salted Caramel Frosting with Medjool Dates
• Easy Vegan Chocolate Ganache
• Butter Cream Frosting (coming soon)
• Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting (coming soon)

The printable recipe card for Buttery Cinnamon Brown Sugar Glaze