Preheat oven 180°C.
Lightly grease a cupcake (or muffin) pan.
In a medium bowl melt 50g of the butter, using a microwave (stirring at 10 second intervals).
Add the brown sugar and golden syrup to the melted butter and mix until the sugar has dissolved.
Place a teaspoon of the brown sugar mix into 8 of the of the cupcake cups.
Cut ⅓ (it may be more or less, depending on the size of your pan cups) from each of the pineapple rings and place them in the bottom of each pan cup, on top of the brown sugar.
Place a cherry in the middle of each pineapple ring.
In another bowl whisk together the caster sugar and butter, until light an fluffy, then add in the pineapple juice and vanilla essence and mix some more.
Then add the flour and eggs to the butter and mix until just combined.
Finally, top up each of the 8 cups with the batter until almost full.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cocktail stick poked in a cake comes out clean from batter/cake.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Using a butter knife, loosen the cakes inside the pan. Place a cooling rack upside down on the top of the pan, and in one motion flip both the rack and pan upside down onto a large baking sheet to catch any drippings.
Wait for another 5 minutes. Lift the pan slowly and the cakes will come out.