Hump-Day Quickie: Cinnamon Icing

 Today on A Book of Cookrye, we want to quickly show you a really tasty and marvelously easy way to finish any cake you have baked!

Cinnamon Icing 2 tbsp butter 4 tsp water (if you want a very thick glaze, use less) Tiny pinch of salt 1 tsp vanilla or so Generous shake of cinnamon 1 c powdered sugar In a microwave safe bowl (a 2-cup measuring cup also works), melt the butter with the salt and water. Whisk in vanilla and cinnamon, then add powdered sugar. Stir until smooth. Add more powdered sugar if it's too thin, or a tiny bit more water if it's too thick. If you're serving the cake in the pan, pour the icing over it right after it's out of the oven, and tilt the pan back and forth to spread. Wait until the cake is ready to ice before making- it doesn't sit and wait very well.

A friend of mine gave me this recipe when we were in high school, and I've put on many baked goods since. I first posted this as part of a chocolate carrot cake recipe (which is good, but you should only make it if you have a dishwasher) You don't need to know how to decorate cakes to just pour glaze on them, nor need you set aside a lot of time. This adds a really good, buttery and cinnamon-filled flavor to anything you put it on. And it's just exactly thick enough to make a nice finishing layer on top of your cakes without being an excessive piled-on mass of sweetness.

I originally would melt the butter and then pour in hot water, but it turns out that you can easily just pop them both into the microwave. I also started using one of those 2-cup glass measuring cups because it has a pouring spout which comes in handy at that magical moment when icing meets cake.

You can add just a bit of cinnamon if you want a slight flavor, or if you want a strong spice flavor you can put a lot in as shown above.

It always amuses me how much powdered sugar shrinks when you get it wet. You can see how the far the waterline dropped.

This icing only takes a minute or two to make, and it makes the perfect finishing touch on nearly any cake you pour it on.

 It is so easy to make and such a tasty topping that I have put it on many cakes, from the one I made after a recipe suggestion failed:

To the tripled batch I put on top of the cake experiment I tried to see whether changing how you mix a cake makes a difference (it does):

 

I also put it on the elaborate, two separate batters, yeast-raised creation I made for my grandparents' anniversary:

 

You might be tempted to fancy this icing up with other spices. But I suggest you first try this as it is because it's really good in its simplest form (although using pumpkin pie spice in it is definitely lovely). You know how people like cinnamon rolls more than twenty-spice rolls? 

Anyway, this is one of my preferred things to grace the top of a cake with. It's (in case I didn't say so) really easy and really good.