Cherry mini-cakes + WWS

These are NOT muffins.
They are miniature cakes made to celebrate the day on which my younger sibling was born.
Yes, they are may look like muffins with the top sawed off but it is a subject like that of chick flicks. According to my English teacher, somebody has to die a tragic death with lots of female tears + desperation for a movie to be called a chick flick (a.k.a a movie no self-respecting heterosexual man would ever pick out on his own), a definition I disagree with. I wouldn't call a guy who voluntarily picks out Mean Girls for a date night/cuddle session self-respecting, or heterosexual. What do y'all think?

But onto the muffin cake-baking. The original recipe was for a strawberry yogurt bundt cake, which I pretty much stuck with except to swap cherries for the strawberries, plain yogurt for the greek, and to halve it (though I posted the full version) and bake it in muffin cups instead of a bundt pan.

This cake is pretty phenomenal, and was a hit with my family. It's super buttery and the salt balances out the tartness of the cherries perfectly. Definitely recommended for tea time... or anytime, really.

I used cherries because we happened to have a bunch on hand, and because my little brother loves them.

RECIPE (adapted from organicglory.wordpress.com)
*1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
*2 cups sugar
*3 eggs
*3 tablespoons lemon juice, divided use
*1 teaspoon vanilla
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*2 and 1/2 cups flour
*1/2 teaspoon baking soda
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*8 ounces plain yogurt (or greek)
*12 ounces fresh cherries (or strawberries) pitted and halved
*1 cup confectioner's sugar

PREPERATION (copied from organicglory.worpress.com)

1.) Preheat the oven to 325 F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.

2.) Sift together 2-1/4 cups of flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3.) With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

4.) Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice and vanilla extract.

5.) In thirds, alternate beating in flour mixture and yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.

6.) Toss strawberries with remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Gently mix them into batter.

7.) Scrape the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

8.) Remove from oven and allow cake to cool in pan for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

9.) Once cooled, combine confectioners’ sugar and reserved 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Drizzle over top of cake. (MAKE SURE THE CAKE IS COMPLETELY COOL BEFORE DRIZZLING- that's where I got too impatient and the sugar melted all over, making a dent on the visual effect.

The glaze looks like... (ahem)

After that delicious carb-bomb, I'm sure we're all itching to check out the latest in workouts: I'm workin' on week 2 of the Iron Body 700 workout from SOA.

BTW: the Cardio kickboxing link in the schedule