These Homemade Sugar Cubes make an easy, inexpensive gift. Make them for your friends and family, or make them for yourself! These only require two ingredients: sugar and water!
For me, a homemade gift needs to be chill to make. If it’s not, then I’ll just buy something, you know? These homemade sugar cubes couldn’t be simpler because they require two ingredients: sugar AND water (which comes out of the tap).
So really, they only require one and you most likely have sugar in your pantry right this very second.
I got this idea when I was walking through Harrod’s last month with and saw the most adorable sugar cubes evrrrr. There were heart sugar cubes and sphere sugar cubes and sugar cubes shaped like snowflakes. I wanted to buy them ALL and almost did until I saw the price tag of 30 pounds. Umm…yeah no.
Turns out sugar cubes are the simplest thing to make in the world; I’m so glad I decided to DIY this sucker instead of fall for that Harrod’s trap (seriously tho that person is very smart to sell sugar and water for $30—respect!).
The only think you do need to buy is a silicon candy mold. You may have one already, if you don’t, don’t worry because they’re not expensive.
I used this candy mold but you can find others if you like.
How to Make Homemade Sugar Cubes
- Simply, mix together sugar and a bit of water together (exact measurements are below) until it resembles wet sand.
- Then, pack the silicon mold very tightly.
- Allow the sugar cubes to dry overnight.
- And then pop them out of silicon mold.
- You'll end up with super cute sugar cubes!
Tips and Tricks
- Adapt according to your molds! My molds were sort of deep and they ended up yielding pretty big sugar cubes (perhaps too much for a cup of coffee or tea) so I ended up just filing them about half way and they were perfect!
- If you place the silicon mold about a foot or two away from the heat source in your house, then they’ll dry even quicker.
If you end up making these, let me know on Instagram!

Homemade Sugar Cubes Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup pure cane sugar or white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add the sugar. Pour in the water and and mix vigorously until the water is evenly distributed throughout the sugar. It should feel similar to damp sand. Transfer the sugar to the candy molds and press the granules down until very packed.
- Air-dry, ideally overnight or at least 6 hours. Pop them out of the molds and transfer to an airtight container.
Notes
- If you want the sugar cubes to be a fun color, you can add a teeny drop of food coloring to the sugar/water mixture. Be sure to wear gloves when you mix it all together.
- Add extracts to the sugar mixture such as almond extract, vanilla extract or lemon extract.
- Get creative with the molds. I used a heart silicon mold but this would work in any mold.
Equipment
Nutrition
Looking for more DIYs? Here are some of my favorites:
Angeline says
Great idea! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Have you tried making Lemonade mix cube with this recipe (like with Country Time Lemonade mix)?
Adrianna Adarme says
nope haven't tried it! but let us know if you do 🙂
Chris says
Immade these and tied substituting 1 tsp of rose water for plain water and the sugar was too dry, wouldn't hold their shape. I was using cane sugar that I pulses in the blender a couple times. 1 cup of sugar to 1 tsp rose water. When you use extracts do you use the same measurements? I know alcohol evaporates so maybe that is where things went wrong?
uro says
Tried this recipe to make small sugar skulls in the mold I have. The first batch was perfect. The send had too much water and crumbled, but i learned from it and the next one came out much better.
Looking forward to food color painting the skulls. 🙂
Dani Crum says
Has anyone tried this subbing bourbon for water? Or other alcohol? Just curious. Thanks for the excellent DIY.
Birdy says
I'm trying this for the first time, so excited! I am a bartender, & I wanted to make some natural cane sugar cubes for some of the cocktails I make. I just made a test batch, but I may dump it back into the bowl & try adding a little bit more water, as I'm afraid that it's not quite wet enough. Thanks for the tutorial, I am excited!
Adrianna Adarme says
ahh amazing! hopefully it works out. it's definitely a touch and feel kinda of "recipe."
Misty says
Hi! What size jar is in the picture you posted? thanks!
Sarah says
Can I substitute pure cane sugar with castor sugar?
Adrianna Adarme says
that should work! 🙂
Luann D says
Just for fun, I googled 'how to make sugar cubes' not even thinking there was an easy way. I am certainly running out today for molds, since I just bought a 5 lb. box of granulated sugar. And adding food coloring makes it perfect all year round. What a great idea!
Adrianna Adarme says
awesome. i bet adding food coloring would make these super pretty!
Mah says
Hello dear, what a sweet idea!!! I'll try it but i didn't understand the latest step, shoud i leave the mold to dry sugars completely and then remove them from mold?
Please guide me
And excuse me for bad english
Adrianna Adarme says
Yes, you let them completely dry in the molds before removing them. This way they'll come out whole and intact!
Kathy Biddle says
I bought the mold likes yours. But over half of mine want to crumble on the tops when I pop them out. I packed them about half full and as tight as i could. I left them over night. I made them twice. They did the same both times. Any advice of what I am doing wrong?
Adrianna Adarme says
Hi Kathy, Sorry for my delayed response. I recommend trying it again and adding a teeny bit more water. I found that if it was too dry, it'd come out crumbly.
Kathy Biddle says
What kind of sugar did you use In the picture of the sugar hearts? One looks like regular sugar but the other looks darker. Is it raw sugar?
Adrianna Adarme says
I used pure cane sugar and regular white sugar.
Raeez says
Super helpful.
Easy to make.
Marissa says
I finally made these and they turned out so well! Thanks for sharing these!
Adrianna Adarme says
Awesome!
Erin says
Love this idea! Wish I had seen this before the holidays (not sure how I missed it!) but I'll be sending them to all my girlfriends for Valentine's Day instead. Thanks for the great idea.
Adrianna Adarme says
Oh that sounds like a good idea!
Antigoni | A Pinch of Lemon says
This time of year comes around and I WANT to make homemade gifts but the time and my ability to produce attractive looking gifties slows me down. These are darling and I can absolutely do this! Thanks for the great idea, I love it!!
PSH says
What a great idea! I did this only I used vanilla extract instead of the water! Perfect vanilla sugar cubes. Thanks for the idea!
Adrianna Adarme says
Oh I love that idea!
rachel s says
I am going to make these for xmas gifts, to go along with homemade vanilla extract! super excited!
Adrianna Adarme says
Awesome. Love that!