Lemon Thyme Olive Oil Cakelets

Ingredients

For the cakes:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fresh thyme finely chopped
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
zest from one lemon
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice be sure to zest before squeezing
1/2 cup mild olive oil
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt I used plain 0% Fage

For the icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
fresh thyme leaves for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a spool cake pan or muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
Whisk flour, baking powder,salt and the 2 teaspoons of thyme in a medium bowl.
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs in on medium high until broken up.
Slowly add the sugar and continue beating until light and pale yellow, about 3 minutes.
In a large liquid measuring cup, measure the 1/4 cup of lemon juice and zest then add in the 1/2 cup olive oil to reach 3/4 of a cup. Add in the 1/2 cup of yogurt. (The total mixture should be 1 1/4 cups) Whisk until fully combined.
On low speed, alternate adding the flour and olive oil mixture, beginning and ending with the flour (1/3 flour, 1/2 oil, 1/3 flour, 1/2 oil, 1/3 flour) mixing until mostly combined after each addition then mixing briefly at the end to insure everything has been incorporated and the batter is smooth.
Distribute batter evenly among the cups, filling about 2/3 full.
Bake for 18-22 minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan, then carefully remove (use a knife to loosen sides, if necessary) to finish cooling on a rack.
When the cakes are cool, make the icing by whisking together the powdered sugar and enough lemon juice to get your desired drizzling consistency. Spread a spoonful of the icing over each cake allowing some to drizzle over sides. Sprinkle with a few thyme leaves and allow icing to set before serving.

Recipe Notes

*I used a mild olive oil, but you can experiment with different flavors of olive oil. Each will bring different dimensions to the flavors of your cake.

*If you can't get past using thyme this recipe, feel free to leave it out. I only used enough to give a slight hint of the flavor. Some may want to increase the amount to a full tablespoon to punch it up even more. The lemon is the star of this dessert, so for the thyme, you'll be fine using none, some or more. I think the thyme makes it special.

*If baking in a muffin tin, cakes may take a few minutes longer to bake, but test at 18 minutes (or earlier if your oven runs hot) and judge from there.

*I normally allow for a few crumbs on the toothpick when testing cakes, but this is such a moist cake, I let it bake until the toothpick came out clean.

*My spool pan created some rather deep golden sides, but my cakes were not overbaked. As I said, I later embraced the deep color. You shouldn't be looking for this color if using a normal light colored muffin tin. Darker pans bake darker cakes.