17. Oreo Cupcakes and Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipes

OH OH OH WHERE TO YOU AT? I hear you all ask. Well, since my last post, I had a ton of bricks dropped on my head in the form of 6 exams which I spent most of the Christmas holiays revising. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year (it's Shrove Tuesday in 4 days and here I am still saying Happy New Year). Oh well. Since my exams finished 2 weeks ago, I've been doing what I love the most- reading and baking. For this post, I thought I would actually share the recipes for the 2 previous weekend bakes. I've decided that I will try and bake something every weekend and read a book a week.
I've just ordered 7 books off Amazon so I think it would be a nice idea for the next 7 posts to feature a review for each of those books and a recipe for the weekend bake. Now bear in mind that the weeks when I have 9 hours of labs -_____-, I might not be able to do a post so don't go cursing me! D: I won't reveal the names of the 7 books just yet so it's a nice surprise. If any of you try the recipes below or any of the others featured on the blog, then please comment and add your photos! Your comments could include some suggestions or what you liked/disliked about the recipe.
Anyway, let's crack on with my first weekend bake which I made and then ended up comfort eating when my Murray was defeated by Djokovic in the Australian Open final but I am still proud of my boy for getting into yet another Grand Slam final and defeating Federer too. Well done to Djokovic as the best player won on the day.

Oreo Cupcakes
To make 12 Oreo Cupcakes you darlings will require:

• 100g plain flour
• 20g cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 100g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 12 whole Oreo biscuits
• 100ml milk
• 2 medium (free range of course) eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 40g unsalted butter

To make the accompanying buttercream icing, you will need:

• 170g icing sugar
• 2 crushed Oreo biscuits
• 85g unsalted butter, softened
• 1-2 tbsp of milk (either semi skimmed or full fat)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

You will need the following utensils:

• Cupcake tray lined with paper cases
• 2 bowls
• Electric or hand whisk
• Tablespoon
• Teaspoon
• Weighing scales
• Measuring jug
• Sieve
• Skewer
• Cooling rack
• Rolling pin

Method

1. Place an Oreo biscuit in each of the paper cases lining the cupcake tray. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Sift the plain flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder into one bowl and combine all the ingredients until they are well mixed.
3. In the second bowl, beat the butter and caster sugar with the whisk until you achieve a creamy and fluffy consistency. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and whisk until all of the ingredients have fully combined.
4. To the second bowl, add the contents of the first bowl slowly alternating with the milk and mixing slowly and constantly with the whisk.
5. Add an equal amount of the mixture to the cupcake cases and place in the oven for 15 minutes or until you can insert a skewer into the centre of each cupcake and it comes out completely clean.

As the cupcakes are cooling on the cooling rack, make the buttercream icing.

1. Beat the icing sugar, vanilla extract and butter until you get a fluffy consistency.
2. Add the milk.
3. Place the Oreo biscuits into a bag and crush with a rolling pin until they are the size of breadcrumbs.
4. Add the crushed Oreo biscuits to the buttercream.
5. When the Oreo cupcakes are completely cool, decorate them with the buttercream by using either a piping bag or a pallet knife.
6. If you have any Oreo biscuits left over, crush them or cut them in half to add a finishing touch to the cupcakes.
7. Enjoy with a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate!

Here are some photos I took before we all devoured them:

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Now time for the recipe for my second weekend bake, yay!

To make an 20cm cake to serve between 6-8 people, you darlings will need:

• 250g caster sugar
• 250g plain flour
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 3 medium (free range) eggs
• 200g unsalted butter softened
• 100ml milk
• Zest of 2 lemons

To make the syrup (drizzle), you will need

• 100g caster sugar
• Juice of 2 lemons

You will need the following utensils:

• A mixing bowl
• A 20cm cake tin (either loose bottom or normal)
• Tablespoon
• Teaspoon
• Weighing scales
• Hand or electric whisk
• Measuring jug
• Skewer
• Knife

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees Celsius
2. Add the butter, caster sugar, lemon zest and eggs to a bowl and whisk until you acheive a cream and fluffy consistency. 
3. Add the plain flour, milk and baking powder to the bowl and mix until all of the ingredients have combined completely.
4. Grease the cake tin and pour in the mixture
5. Bake for an hour or until you can insert a skewer into the centre of the cake and it comes out clean
6. While the cake is in the oven, mix the caster sugar and juice of lemons until you get a gloopy, syrupy consistency
7. As soon as you remove the cake from the oven, pierce the cake with the skewer about 20 times and pour on the syrup all over the cake using a tablespoon.
8. Enjoy with a refreshing cup of green tea

Here's a photo of my attempt:

Until next time, take care.

Love,
Mancunian Sheep x

16. 6 weeks on.

Hello everyone, I hope you're all well and enjoyed Halloween! It's Bonfire night tomorrow so remember to have lots of fun but also to stay safe. I hope you're all enjoying the extra hour in bed although it doesn't make up for the fact that you have to leave home for school/work in the dark and return in the dark. For those of you who are regular readers, my last post was about starting university so I thought I'd update you on how everything is going so far.

Firstly, those of you currently taking A-levels and GCSEs have no idea how lucky you are. The workload may seem like tons to you at the moment but wait until you start university. Lecturers go through the bare minimum and you have to look up extra information in textbooks that weigh a ton and cost a bomb. You may be thinking why I didn't just get them out of the library, well I would have but there was nothing there except for the chemistry one. Which brings me nicely onto my next point- any budding bioscientists- DO NOT PICK A CHEMISTRY RELATED MODULE, IT IS NOT CHEMISTRY, IT IS PHYSICS!!! Those of you who did A-level physics and maths/further maths will probably find it okay because it includes things like quantum mechanics, Schrodinger's wave equation, etc. Also, be prepared to do a lot of work online so those of you who are distracted by social networking sites need to toughen up and not be drawn in by the temptation of tweeting. Oh and the worst thing of it all has to be essay writing. It is nothing like the long exam answers you may have had to write in A-level exams for psychology, biology, sociology etc. The referencing isn't as bad as most people say in my personal opinion but it is the research which is so grim. There never seems to be anything relevant and authors of different journals contradict each other so you never know what is correct. Also, microscopes should not exist -_- The reason why I'm probably listing the endless bad things about university is that I've spent all weekend working on the most tedious essay I have ever had the displeasure of writing :|

Now moving onto the more positive things about university life. You have to put yourself out there when opportunities arise because you will be pleasantly surprised. Now I'm not exactly a wallflower but I'm not incredibly confident either. For instance, I always find myself stammering in presentations that I have to do in front of a class. However, I have decided to throw myself  in at the deep end by mentoring year 11 girls and being a student ambassador at university. As part of the student ambassador selection process, we had to attend an assessment session and in groups of 4-5, we had to do a verbal presentation without visual aids on why we chose to come to the University of Manchester. In the past, I have struggled with eye contact and relying heavily on a script but on Tuesday, I wrote less than 10 words on a piece of paper and made decent eye contact but still bloody stammered! However, I was pleasantly surprised the next day when I received an email saying that I am one of the 75 successful candidates chosen from 150 applicants. With the mentoring, I myself have gone through many of life's challenges but have been lucky enough to have someone there for me most of the time. As cheesy as it sounds, I want to be that someone for a young person with bags of potential.

Aside from university and working with young people, I have discovered that cafe crawls are the best thing since Starbucks' caramel macchiato. My friend and I have made a pact to visit every cafe on the university campus during our time at the university and so far we have had the pleasure of visiting the Aadvark Cafe (only in Manchester would you find something so cool) and realising Costa Coffee is like a House of Mirrors. To avoid the tons of work I unfortunately have,  I've been watching Gavin and Stacey and can admit that I'm addicted. Uncle Bryn and Nessa will get me through university, I just know it. Hopefully my next post will be before (OH OH OH MERRY) Christmas ;) 

Until next time, whenever that will be, take care my sheep!

Mancunian Sheep x

P.S. Oops, just realised that this post has no photos or links, it looks like a bloody essay so here you go...

15. BSc Biology

Hello everyone! Before I get bags of hate mail, (only one out of approximately 7 billion of you homo sapiens has actually been nice enough to comment so I doubt anyone cares that I've not posted for like 2 months) I would like to apologise for not posting since August or it might even have been late July. Anyway, a lot has happened in my life since then :

• ANDY MURRAY WON THE US OPEN- although it took him over 5 hours to beat the defending champion in a thrilling 5 set match, he did it. Words cannot express how happy I am for him and what a successful year both Andy and I have both had. When Novak came back from 2-0 down to level, I was pretty much crying my eyes out but the positive attitude Murray has had this year since being crowned Olympic mens singles champion and as well as Wimbledon runner up gave him that edge. Here are a few of my favourite photos of Andy with his first of many (I hope) Grand Slam trophies :D

• I GOT INTO THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER- Despite crying more than I have in my entire life during this summer, I actually passed my A-levels after a torturous 2 years. I received BBB in A-levels in Biology, Chemistry and Sociology. The week leading up to results day and especially the 2 days before were so emotional. My results went online at 6am and that morning after praying from about 4.30am-6am, I was crying my eyes out because failure for me has never been an option. When I logged onto the computer, I could only see my overall grade for sociology so I frantically started working out my total marks for the other 2 whilst trembling on the calculator. I knew I'd got the place at MMU, my insurance university place but then the wait until 8am began when UCAS Track would be updated. At approximately 7.37am my UCAS track page which had been opened in a web browser window since 6am automatically refreshed and when I read the words "Congratulations, your place at the University of Manchester to study BSc Biology has been confirmed", I ran with the speed of someone running from a deadly situation up the stairs and just told my Mum and cried and cried. My work had been paid off. The hundreds of revision cards I had made, the countless sleepless nights since that awful chemistry exam in June (in which I got a B in if anyone cares) and I had finally done it, I'd made my Mum, teachers, friends and for probably the first time in my life, myself proud. As we have recenty seen with the success of team GB at the Olympics and Paralympics, hard work really does pay off as obvious as it sounds. Although for some people, they are born into successful, wealthy families, their ancestors must have done something to get them into that situation and there is nothing stopping you from doing the same. I am about to start my third week at university tomorrow and althought the work is tough, I'm having the time of my life and meeting people from every corner of Earth and learning new things. There is so much to do and not enough time, I'm already purple and proud :D

Good luck to everyone who has just started university or A-levels or has graduated this summer. Leave a comment below sharing your experiences :) Also, let me know where you were and what you were doing when Andy Murray made history :D Thanks for reading!

Take care,

Mancunian Sheep x

14. London 2012 and Ramadhan update :)

Hello everyone, it's the Mancunian sheep here! Sorry for not posting for 2 weeks, I've been fairly busy and wanted something good to write about instead of a long, boring post. Well, it's almost 2 weeks into Ramadhan (today is the 13th fast) and they are going very well. Fortunately, I haven't missed a single fast or prayer, I suppose being anaemic does have its advantages ;) Despite a lot of my Muslim friends and I being quite frightened of no food/water for approximately 17 hours during the middle of summer, it doesn't even feel like I'm fasting. The first couple were quite difficult because not only were they the longest, but also because it takes some time adjusting to a new routine. My stomach used to rumble as I cooked or served my Mum meals because unfortunately, she cannot fast due to her critical, regular medication for her Parkinson's. As the fast opens at 9pm-ish (this is called Iftar, it's when you're allowed to eat at sunset), it's difficult to eat a lot when closing the fast (this is called Sehri, it's when you have a meal before sunrise and then cannot eat until Iftar). For Sehri, I've been eating little fruit pots recommended by my friend and sometimes I have a small carton of Ribena. For Iftar, I've been eating a fruit salad usually consisting of 4 dates, an apple, a banana, 2 clementines and a nectarine. I also have some curry with a chappati/ naan or pizza but have been trying to eat more protein such as grilled chicken with salad at Iftar so I'm not bloated for the special Ramadhan night prayers called Taraveeh or Sehri. 
Ramadhan isn't the only big event on at the moment, it's the Olympics! YAY :D Team GB had a really successful day yesterday by winning 5 medals and today, Andy Murray has just gotten through to the semi finals! I feel like a proud Mother at a sports day! Special congratulations to Bradley Wiggins who has had an incredible 2012 so far- not only is he the first British cyclist to win the Tour De France, he's also won a gold medal AND is now the most successful British athlete and Olympic cyclist of all time! :D As well as the cycling and tennis, I've also enjoyed watching the gymnastics, swimming and rowing. We've done incredibly well in the rowing :) As well as the sports events being brilliant, who can forget the fantastic Olympic opening ceremony?! Did any of you see that massive Voldemort, that actually completed my life :') Several other personal highlights of mine were the digital house which celebrated 50 years of amazing British music, the performances by the Arctic Monkeys and Emeli Sande, when HRH Queen Elizabeth said "Good evening Mr Bond" to Daniel Craig and was in a helicopter with him, the SHEEP in the agricultural scene at the beginning and finally, the lighting of the cauldron. Two things which baffled me were why on earth a tribute was paid to the NHS :| For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you probably already know how much I'm anticipating the day I can afford private healthcare. The other thing which grated on my nerves was how people said Beijing's Olympic ceremony was better than ours. I'm sorry but you're all a big fat bunch of liars, how can any of you even remember it so well when it was 4 years ago? Also, London pulled out all the stops from David Beckham on a speed boat to Rowan Atkinson playing the piano with his middle finger. People also need to realise that the London 2012 ceremony cost £27 million compard to Beijing's approximately £64 million. Also, did we use a child singer who lip synced because the vocalist was "too ugly" to perform? No. I'm proud of our opening ceremony and the 10,000 volunteers who made it possible. I'm looking forward to both the closing ceremony and watching team GB win many more medals during the second week of the Olympics. Hopefully, you will all also enjoy the Olympic coverage and have fun whatever you're doing!

Take care,

Mancunian Sheep

13. 18 at last!

The Mancunian sheep is officially an adult guys, wheyy! Me being epic (only kidding), I was both the chef and DJ at my party and decided to break an 18 year tradition by cooking non-Indian food at my party :O My Mum and her friend really wanted to help but I wanted to prove that I could be the hostess with the mostess so for the main I made fajitas (the Old El Paso kits are really good but the salsa wasn't really to my taste. It is better if you chill it before serving in the fridge for a few hours. Thanks to Asda who do superb margherita and vegetable pizzas for £2 each, I didn't have to spend ages making my own :D I also made pasta and realised that despite being able to make a whole range of curries, I never really make pasta. I didn't really have a theme because it's just too much effort although I did consider a Where's Wally/ Harry Potter theme for the past year. Enough food talk because some of you who might be reading this a few days after publishing will probably be fasting so good luck! I shall move on to talking about my presents- I received several perfumes including the Beckham one called "initimately" which smells lush as does the body lotion. My friend Misbah bought me a superb personalised mug which had a photo of me and was like a film poster <3 I've just realised I've not got a photo of the mug but will take one and put it on the next post. I received 4 boxes of chocolates so will have plenty of fun eating them :D A surprise present was a Cath Kidston bag off my Mum which she had told me to buy for her last week but she's so sneaky because it was actually for me! My extremely talented friend, Lauren gave me a framed picture of Where's Wally and I which had only taken her an hour to draw :O She's incredible. Lauren also bought me the ultimate Where's Wally book collection which will provide me with weeks of fun :D It has all 7 Wally books! We had plenty of fun singing and dancing but I think my guests were sick of me playing Cheryl's Call My Name and singing my heart out to it. I don't actually know what happens to me when that song comes on but at least they enjoyed Mama Do The Hump, the Cha Cha slide and LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem ;) The V.I.P at my party was John Terry (no, not that innocent footballer who scores very important penalties for Chelski), I'm talking about John Terry the pinata. Regular readers will probably be familiar with Ryan Giggs who was the V.I.P at my 17th who is unfortunately no longer with us after a tragic accident in my back garden last year. Unfortunately , when your Mother is a Chelski fan, calling your pinata John Terry is not wise. She wouldn't let us batter him so basically he's still alive and he was just used as a bowl for some Celebrations sweets at my party :| I could go on and on about my party but I think it would be better if I just summed it up with a few photos:

Mum, Me and Misbah :)

Misbah and I, she's so cute!



Mum and Madihah who I can't thank enough for doing my
hair and nails and making me look less like Hagrid!

Madbo <3 She's like the big sis I never had!



These girls complete my life, genuinely have no idea
what I'd do without these 3! :')

Ronald and Severus

Aww Guy and Ana, our lovely neighbours!




Aww Paul and Gloria!

How cute!

The sparkler on my cake looks like a bunsen burner

It looks more like a sparkler here

Peggy and John bonded



Naughty Peggy!

Well I hope you've all enjoyed reading about my 18th birthday, until next time, take care!
Mancunian Sheep x

12. Superb second week of summer

Hello everyone, I hope you're well! I thought that I should stick to my promise of updating you all on a weekly basis. So despite a busy weekend (they say there's no rest for the wicked) I thought I should share my personal highlights of this week. Now although I did mention a lot on Wimbledon towards the end of the last post, I feel I owe it to the BRITISH number 1 and the first British Wimbledon FINALIST in 74 years, Andy Murray to be deeply praised. Although some may argue that I have a biased view being a hardcore Murray fan, I know many fans of Federer and other players who have been converted by watching the quality of tennis that Andy has been playing over the past fortnight. The stamina and maturity of the 25 year old was clear to see in his quarter final match against Ferrer, semi final against Tsonga but most importantly, against Federer in the final. His knee had caused him some problems last week due to several falls but he kept his cool when he looked to be in trouble against Ferrer and also against Tsonga during the 3rd and 4th sets. Today, to win the first set against Roger Federer (the best man tennis has ever seen) in his first Wimbledon final is no mean feat. I am so proud of Murray and so should every British citizen and Murray fan across the world. It was absolutely heart breaking to see how upset Murray was but he really silenced his critics today who have accused him of being emotionless in the past. He is such a genuine person who doesn't let all of the fame get to his head, as is Federer which is why a 7th Wimbledon title could not have been won by a better man than him. Well done to both Federer and Murray and I know that both will return next year and for many years to come and Murray WILL win Grand Slam titles including Wimbledon if this year's performance is anything to go by. This moment will stay with me for the rest of my life, as it will for millions of others but the passion Murray has for tennis will be paid off when he is lifting the trophy at Wimbledon.
http://bit.ly/MffTLn
We love you Murray, we do!

In other news, I have been busy shopping for a birthday dress which thanks to New Look I found after 3 hours! The vintage shop where I got my dress for the Adele concert let me down but hey, everything happens for a reason! I LOVE my dress, it's just perfect and it's nice to be able to fit into a size 10 ;) I will post photos on my next post. Also, I didn't watch the Wimbledon final alone, my two very good friends, Misbah and Sammia came over and we baked cupcakes which my friends beautifully decorated with pink buttercream and hundreds and thousands. We also made banoffee pie but it was difficult to slice as it was quite crumbly. During the match, we were sick to death of how frequently deuces occured and every time we moaned, the game would end up going to 5th deuce. There was one particular game during the Wimbledon final which lasted over 18 minutes and it went to 10th deuce. I was seriously contemplating writing a will at that moment.

Other than that, this week has been mainly spent at home due to the glorious Manchester rain. I did make fajitas for the very first time. I decided to make a trial batch to see if I was any good at them so they could be included on my birthday menu. The Old Del Paso kit is a life saver! Also, in my previous post titled "Wimbledon amongst other things", I mentioned the novel "Frankie and Stankie", as a result of my love of biology, I have stopped reading that and have now started reading a non-fictional book titled "Survival of the sickest" which is superb. I recommend it to anyone who suffers from anaemia, diabetes or hemochromatosis in particular as it views these diseases from a positive perspective which is rarely done. I have read the first 2 chapters so far because Wimbledon has been such edge of the seat tennis that I couldn't bare to miss a moment. I have realised that I didn't mention the women's singles. I am really pleased that Serena Willams has won her 5th Wimbledon title because she truly deserved to. She is probably one of very few female players I can watch because the noises that Azarenka and Sharapova make leave me feeling suicidal. In the previous post, I mentioned photos and videos from community day but apologies as I have not had the time to upload them but will try my best to get it done for my next post which will predominantly be about my 18th birthday!

I thought as a little treat I will leave you all with some music. They are very different to one another, I've fallen in love with the first track after it appeared on a television advert during England's Euro 2012 campaign. The second track should cheer you up after Murray's defeat not that you should be upset by his performance in the slightest but I know his speech had the majority of people at the All England Club as well as many others including myself in tears. I discovered the second track on the BBC Three show "Britiain Unzipped" which was presented by two gorgeous and talented young men: Greg James and Russell Kane. Feel free to comment below on any of the topics discussed in this post or elsewhere in the blog.

Love Mancunian Sheep x

11. Wimbledon amongst other things!

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a good week, my first week of the summer holidays has been rather productive. As well as being a total couch potato and watching non-stop tennis, I've been busy painting the kitchen ceiling, baking (this week I made some meringues and rice pudding) and gardening. With the odd weather that we've had this year, there was a lot of grass in the front garden most of which I've managed to remove. Now all that is left is to prepare the soil to plant some petunias and herbs. I've had green fingers from a young age and gardening is also a great workout. My legs were aching after two days of gardening! As well as being a domestic goddess, I have attended two brilliant events in my first education free week, they are my lovely friend Lauren's 18th birthday party (regular readers will know more about Lauren) and I also watched the Olympic torch being carried through my local community. Here are some photos of both events:



The 2 gorgeous Laurens and I <3



The Olympic Torchbearer and a local resident

Also this week, I had my hair cut, yes the full fringe has returned, woop woop! Following the advice of my hairdresser, I've decided to grow my layers out because I fancied a change after 3 years of having layered hair. I went back to my sixth form on Friday for community day which was great! I participated in Zumba with my friend like last year and got incredibly overexcited when "Call My Name" and "Single Ladies" by Cheryl Cole and Beyonce respectively came on. As well as Zumba, my friends and I watched the college talent show aptly named "Xavs Got Talent", some of the acts which personally stood out for me were a boy who covered "Candy" by Paolo Nutini, a girl who sang "Kids" by MGMT and a boy who beatboxed for about 10 minutes without his lungs collapsing amazingly. Unfortunately, I haven't recharged my digital camera since but I will post some photos and videos on the next post.

Now as the title of this post mentions Wimbledon, I of couse have to mention how much of an Andy Murray fan I am! If any of you are tennis fans, I would love to hear from you so feel free to comment below! Murray has been on top form during the tournament so far and especially last night (during his third round match) when he and Baghdatis were pretty much neck and neck statistics wise for the first 3 sets. It was dreadful to watch Murray fall several times because he looked to be in a huge amount of pain however he really amazed anyone who has previously doubted his ability in the 4th set. Although closing the roof made conditions more difficult to play in, the 36 minute break proved valuable for Murray and the final 2 games of the match he won in approximately 5 minutes. Enough about Murray, Rosol shocked the world when he beat Nadal but Wimbledon wouldn't be Wimbledon without its twists and turns. Even Federer looked to be in trouble but he came back from 2 sets down against Benneteau to win in style. Another thing which I love about the majority of tennis players is how classy they are, despite losing or being exhuasted after playing for 2-4 hours they still stick around to sign autographs. You may think I'm easily impressed but this restores my faith in human nature. Not forgetting the women's tennis, I discovered an incredibly talented young lady called Laura Robson during the first Wimbledon match I watched this week but unfortunately she was knocked out in the first round. However despite being only 18, she was playing very well. No doubt she will return to Wimbledon next year stronger and better. I tried to watch a bit of Maria Sharapova's match however she makes too many weird noises and it's really off putting -_-

I couldn't help myself, ;) oh Murray, we love you, we do!



In other news, I booked my practical driving test but I'm not telling anyone when it is except my lovely instructor that is, I haven't even told my Mum because I don't want anyone to know if I fail and everyone's expectations will put a lot of pressure on me. Anyway, I have shared my first week of the holidays with you all and I hope you've enjoyed reading. I myself am going to spend the rest of this evening reading Frankie and Stankie. I'm only on the first chapter so I will tell you more about it next week and let you know whether it's a recommended read. Take care and have a great week!

Love Mancunian Sheep x