The Next Time You Run Out of Powdered Sugar, Try This Brilliant Hack

My neighbors and I sometimes text each other to borrow the clichéd cup of sugar. It's not always sugar—it may be an egg or two, a specific spice, or a small amount of milk. The requests usually occur on two occasions: the holidays or when one of our kids is having a birthday.

I once borrowed an entire bag of powdered sugar—aka confectioner's or 10x sugar— from one of my neighbors. I needed it to make the frosting for a Hershey's Chocolate Cake for my son's birthday. 

Powdered sugar is the main ingredient in all sorts of frostings—cream cheese frosting, buttercream frosting, peanut butter frosting, and many other flavors. If you're making a frosted cake, there's a good chance you'll need powdered sugar. 

If you're out of the important ingredient and don't have a neighbor who will have her son run a package across the street for you, you still may not need to run to the store. You just need granulated sugar and one other ingredient. 

How to Make Powdered Sugar 

Have you ever wondered what powdered sugar is and how it differs from granulated sugar? Powdered sugar is made by grinding granulated sugar into a fine powder. It also contains cornstarch as an anti-caking agent. The ingredients on Domino powdered sugar read "cane sugar, cornstarch." 

One of my favorite TikTok personalities, Tineke Younger, a former contestant on Next Level Chef, recently ran out of powdered sugar while she was making a cake and needed it for the frosting. She shared how to make powdered sugar with her TikTok followers. The method is surprisingly simple.

"All you need is a blender or something that grinds," she said. You could even use a coffee grinder.

She says to add a tablespoon of cornstarch for each cup of sugar. She blends the two in a blender for about two minutes. When she lifts the lid, a little powder flies into the air. When she points the camera at the bottom of the blender, you can see powdered sugar.

The DIY powdered sugar method works when a professional cook does it, but does it work when a home cook does it? 

Home Cooks Try Making Powdered Sugar at Home

We have a powdered sugar recipe here on Allrecipes, and it's similar to the one Tineke posted on TikTok: 4 cups of powdered sugar and 1/2 cup of cornstarch (the equivalent of 8 tablespoons). Our recipe has more cornstarch. 

The method didn't work for everyone, but it did work for the majority of Allrecipes members who commented. Several of them had one specific tip for getting it right—do it in batches. 

"Perfect when done in small batches. Worked like a charm!" said member Shenanjia. Home cook lr7020 commented, "I made it in tiny batches in my coffee grinder, because it's all I have... Great recipe, very accurate."

Amanda Nuchols got specific, saying, "I used a Magic Bullet and did batches of 1 cup each. It took about a minute per batch and the consistency and taste is exactly that of store-bought confectioner's sugar."

We suggest trying this method before you need it in an emergency. Take a cup of granulated sugar and one or two tablespoons of cornstarch and give them a whirl in whatever blender, coffee grinder, or food processor you have.

If you end up with powdered sugar, you'll know that the next time you run out, you can save yourself a trip to the store if you have enough granulated sugar. If it doesn't work, perhaps whatever you're grinding it in lacks the power to create a fine powder. In that case, you'll be better off heeding the advice of member Marilyn Terman who was unsuccessful at making powdered sugar.

"My best advice is not to run out of confectioners sugar!" she said.