Mini pineapple upside down cakes

Ingredients:
Topping:
½ medium pineapple, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored
¾ stick unsalted butter
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
Maraschino cherries, cut into halves (for garnish)
Batter:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup unsweetened pineapple juice

Muffin tins and muffin tin liners

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Make topping:Cut pineapple crosswise into 3/8-inch-thick pieces. Shred the pineapple sliced with your fingers to a similar consistency of crushed pineapple. Melt butter in skillet. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place muffin liners in muffin tins.
In the mini muffin tins, place roughly one teaspoon of the butter and brown sugar mixture in each liner, just so the bottom of the liner is coated.
Place the shredded pineapple on top of sugar mixture making sure not to mix the butter-sugar mixture and the pineapple together.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in granulated sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add half of the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Beat in pineapple juice, then add the remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended (The Batter may appear slightly curdled. It did for me, it’s because of the pineapple juice, don’t worry it’s normal for this to happen).

Spoon batter over pineapple topping in muffin tins making sure that you do not fill each liner entirely (remember, the cake expands in the oven). Bake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, around 15 to 20ish minutes (I really don’t time things). Let cakes cool in pan. Turn the Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes upside down, and peel the liner off carefully. Place each Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cake on a plate and garnish with the halved maraschino cherries. Serve cake just warm or at room temperature.