Learn How to make icing sugar (or confectioner's sugar) from scratch at home with just 2 ingredients in your food processor (in 60 seconds).
Looking for more homemade everyday staples? Here's How To Make Your Own Brown Sugar, How to Make Self Rising Flour and Homemade Simple Vanilla Extract.
Quick look at How To Make Icing Sugar
- ⏲️ 5 minutes
- 🛒 Ingredients: 1 simple ingredient.
- 🍽️ Makes: 1 cup.
- 🧑🍳 Difficulty: Very very easy.
- 🗃️ Make ahead: Keeps for ages.
Do you need icing sugar (the finely powdered sugar used in baking) for a recipe but just realised you don't have any?
Have you got a blender, food processor or Thermomix and some kind of sugar?
You're all set because you're about to learn how to make confectioner's sugar (or powdered sugar) from scratch in just a few minutes.
Jump to:
Recipe Ingredients
To make your own confectioner's sugar you will need:
- Sugar - to make icing sugar you can use caster, regular, raw or even rapadura (it won't be white) sugar.
- Blender - a food processor, high-powered blender or Thermomix will all do the job.
- Corn flour - this one is optional but will help keep the sugar super fine if you're going to store it for any period of time. Alternatively, you can just re-blend it if it's clumpy when you go to use it.
How To Make Icing Sugar
Step 1 & 2 - Measure out one cup of sugar into the bowl of a food processor, Thermomix or jug of a blender. If using, add 1 tablespoon of corn flour.
Step 3 - If you're using a Thermomix, place a sheet of baking paper over the top of the bowl before placing the lid on. This will stop the powdered sugar from flying everywhere. Alternatively you can put a towel over the whole thing.
Step 4 - You may need to jiggle it around a little to get it to shut. In the Thermomix, process on speed 9 for 1 minute. In a food processor or blender do the same on high speed for 1 minute.
Leave it to settle for a couple of minutes and then repeat twice for a super fine powder.
Step 5 - Use your homemade icing sugar.
Step 6 - I probably should have switched this and the photo before - you can check to make sure it's powdered smooth by rubbing between fingers. 3 blends will get it to this consistency so you can use it to make silky smooth icing.
Recipe FAQs
To make your own icing sugar you can use white or raw sugar. You can also use this method to make icing sugar from coconut or rapadura sugar.
If it's still grainy then you can process it for one more minute. It should only take 3 goes to get it super fine.
No not at all. Use it if you want to store your icing sugar for a period of time and have it stay soft. But if it does harden, you can just give it a quick blend to get the lumps out.
Uses For Homemade Icing Sugar
- The Simple Fluffy Buttercream Icing that tops Best Ever Vanilla Cupcakes.
- Chocolate icing atop the simple, Kid-Friendly Simple Chocolate Cake (a great recipe for kids to bake themselves).
- Royal Icing (that actually sets hard) on the Best Gingerbread Biscuits Ever.
- As a dusting on top of the Classic Chocolate Brownies.
Recipe
How to make icing sugar
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon corn flour optional
Instructions
- Place the ingredients in a blender, food processor or Thermomix and blend on high speed for 30-60 seconds or until it forms a fine powder.
- Use straight away or store in an air-tight container.
Notes
- Corn flour can be excluded. It's there to keep the icing sugar from clumping if you store it. You can always just give it a quick blend if it does clump.
- This method can be use with white or raw sugar or coconut or rapadura sugar (they last two won't turn perfect white).
Claire Cameron says
So easy and less expensive than store bought.