Olive Oil Cakes with Lemon Glaze

I am obsessed with cooking magazines! Right now one of my new faves is the Food Network Magazine! Can it get any better than that??? It has all my favorite chefs all in one! Who needs a cook book when you can have it all every month! This new issue has some really neat goodies! I tried one out tonight and my family LOVED it. I made 24 individual size cakes... and now there are 5 left. Mind you, they came out of the oven 45 minutes ago! The best part about this recipe is that you make it all in a blender. This was specifically designed for those of us who aren't so lucky to own a food processor (trust me, it is on my wish list though). I modified this a little bit because I wanted to make it a little healthier. I'll give you my version!



Ingredients
For the Cakes:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose wheat flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon finely minced fresh thyme, plus sprigs for garnish

For the Glaze:

3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions
1.Position a rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees. Prepare the cakes: Brush a 24-cup mini muffin pan or 12-cup pan with the melted butter. Lightly dust with flour and shake out the excess.

2.Pulse the granulated sugar and lemon zest in a blender until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, then gradually pour in the olive oil and milk, pulsing until emulsified into a thin batter, about 30 seconds. Don't overblend or the cakes will be too puffy.


3.Whisk 1 cup flour, the baking powder, salt and 1 teaspoon thyme in a small bowl. Add to the blender in 2 batches, pulsing lightly until just combined; stop to scrape down the sides of the blender as needed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cakes just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and spring back when lightly touched, 20 minutes for 24-cup pan, 25 minutes for 12 cup pan. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the sides with a small knife and invert the cakes onto a rack.


4.Meanwhile, prepare the glaze: Whisk the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth, adding more lemon juice if the mixture is too thick. Drizzle over the warm cakes and garnish with thyme sprigs.

* I use less glaze because the recipe called for way more glaze than needed.