perils of the purse switch

August 03 2009 by Kristin at The Kitchen Sink in Breakfast, Dessert, Recipe » 37 comments

On Sunday afternoon, I visited a little corner of hell. It wasn’t subterranean, it wasn’t all that hot, but hell it was, right there in Lincoln Park, at the corner of Kingsbury and Sheffield. Chicagoans might recognize this location: it’s the site of Chicago’s brand new, super(-duper)-sized Whole Foods—a sprawling spectacle of food and booze and carts and people.

To be fair, I’m kind of a sucker for spectacles and I actually quite this new Whole Foods. But I apparently only like it before the hour of 9 a.m., or some similarly unpopulated hour. I can tell you one thing for sure: I do not like it at the hour of 3 p.m. on a Sunday.

Crowded doesn’t even begin to describe the chaos unfolding inside the glass-encased mecca of wholesomeness. There was a full-on bumper-cart roller derby playing out—and that was just in the produce section. The aisles were unpassable, the check-out lines snaking as far as the eye could see.

I found myself in the midst of this nightmare yesterday afternoon. But, I deftly navigated my way through the store, checking off the items on my list—cursing no fewer than a dozen customers along the way. I twiddled my thumbs as I waited in line. I piled my items on the truncated conveyor belt. I was this close.

As the cashier began to beep, beep, beep my items across the scanner, I rummaged through my purse, extracted my wallet and reached for my debit card. Not there. No credit cards. No debit cards. They were in the lovely little clutch I’d carried to the wedding the night before. Only four dollars in cash. I nearly died on the spot of embarrassment (not to mention grocery shoppers’ exhaustion). A dejected trip home, a Kevin to the rescue, and a LOT of whining later, we retrieved the groceries and I swore off grocery shopping for at least a couple weeks.

Luckily, I stocked up on this trip. Because of the wedding, which was in Northern Wisconsin, we missed our Sunday morning farmers’ market. But, no matter: Whole Foods was brimming with beautiful seasonal produce, not just harried (and harrying) customers. I couldn’t resist some Michigan blueberries displayed right by the front door. I picked up a couple pints, envisioning a cake that could double as both dessert and breakfast—my favorite kind. And this bundt is a perfect example of the genre: tender and a little sweet, stained with juicy blueberries and dusted prettily with a halo of powdered sugar. And late Sunday afternoon, it was just the antidote to grocery shoppers’ exhaustion.

Lemon-Blueberry Bundt
Adapted from Cooking Light

2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
grated zest & juice of one lemon, divided
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) container reduced-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, grease a 12-cup Bundt pan and dust it with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Set aside.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, butter, and rind in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition (about 4 minutes total). Beat in vanilla, lemon juice, sour cream and buttermilk. Add all but 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture; beat at medium speed just until combined. Toss blueberries in reserved dry ingredients; gently fold into the batter. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional).

37 comments so far. »
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Half Assed Kitchen says on August 03 2009 at 7:23 pm:

Ugh. I recently did this. It’ awful. This cake looks amazing though.
ovenhaven says on August 03 2009 at 7:27 pm:

Oh dear, I can only imagine how you must’ve felt, especially since you’ve braved through the whole crowd and endured the queue. It’s definitely a female purse-switching hazard, I agree. I’m always missing things I left in another handbag/purse when the situation calls for it.

Having said that, it was all worth it, no? A slice of that lemon-blueberry bundt would be absolutely worth it for me
Chocolate and Toast says on August 03 2009 at 7:40 pm:

Just reading this gave me an anxiety attack! Why is it that we never discover the lack of payment options until we are fully committed, in line, being rung up?! Fate is cruel. Glad you survived, and even pulled yourself together and baked!
Shannalee says on August 03 2009 at 8:11 pm:

Oh, gosh, that sounds just like every other place in the city that I love in mornings/weekdays but not on weekend afternoons when everyone—and I mean everyone—decides to go there, too. I’ve actually sworn never to go back to the Taste (and haven’t) unless I can go right when it opens on a random Thursday or something.

Anyway. Bundt cakes are beautiful. And so are fresh blueberries. This looks lovely.
Amy I. says on August 04 2009 at 12:09 am:

This cake looks amazing, and your photos are perfection. If I had sour cream in the fridge right now, I’d SO be having an after-midnight impulse baking session to make this Glad you got your groceries!
Matt says on August 04 2009 at 6:00 am:

Oh man, I know what you mean. I can’t stand grocery stores during their busy hours. Heck, I can’t even put up with the parking lots when they are half full. It drives my wife crazy because I expressly avoid shopping during busy times, and will put off groceries until the late hours when the store is much quieter and easier to get around.

That cake looks great, though! You’ve done a number of great-looking bundt cakes, but this one may finally get me to invest in a bundt pan so that I can make it myself. ^_^
Amy says on August 04 2009 at 6:01 am:

Yu-um! I know what I’m making with my next batch of blueberries.

Oh, and I’m so with you on *any* grocery store after 9am on the weekend being a little corner of hell. And forgetting your purse?! Ack, I would have died on the spot! Good thing you had this cake to comfort you afterwards.
Sam@BingeNYC says on August 04 2009 at 6:25 am:

Mmm…dessert-for-breakfast recipes are a favorite. Gorgeous photographs.

I forget any/all forms of payment with embarrassing frequency…luckily, I live right down the street!
Amanda B says on August 04 2009 at 6:51 am:

I bet the parking lot was a mess too! That sucks. My local trader joes is a MADHOUSE from 4pm to 6 pm, even on the weekends. So now I go close to closing time and it’s much more manageable…
Julia (Color Me Green) says on August 04 2009 at 7:24 am:

i saw a vintage bundt pan in an antique store this weekend and it made me want one so bad…but sadly no room for new kitchen items in my life right now. i go through similar whole foods/trader joes experiences in manhattan after work. ugh!
Courtney says on August 04 2009 at 7:26 am:

I have been following your site for quite awhile and am finally chiming in. I always refer to your site when looking for any sort of bundt, quickbread, or other berry/fruit treat. I also had to laugh at your Whole Foods story…I live in Chicago and have only stepped foot in the new store once and can’t say when/if I will be back, it was slightly traumatizing…we were also in northern Wisconsin for a wedding this weekend, what a long drive home Sunday! Anways, just wanted to say hi and that I enjoy your site. Thank you!
rose says on August 04 2009 at 8:37 am:

Oh dear that SUCKS. I’ve done that once, at Christmastime with a FULL cart of food. NO MONEY. Ugh!

That cake looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it
Carol says on August 04 2009 at 10:36 am:

haha- totally agree. Since when did grocery shopping become a recreational sport? My local grocery (Whole Foods is an occasional splurge) is populated with “grocery rookies” on Sunday…mainly husbands trying to help out their wives (OK a little credit here), standing in the aisles, blocking traffic, looking lost and occasionally talking on their cellphones while planted in front of the peanut butter or tuna and asking where things are. “Second shelf from the bottom, left hand side, yellow box…” If they can’t find it in the refrigerator at home what makes you think they’ll find it at the store?!
oneshotbeyond says on August 04 2009 at 10:40 am:

this looks fantastic. Love that you topped it so simply with the sugar.
kaela says on August 04 2009 at 11:59 am:

I feel the same way about the Fairway in the West 70’s in Manhattan. I went there ONCE. Gorgeous produce, all sorts of hard to find items, but OMG the people. I left without even standing in the ginormous and visciously competitive check-out line. I’d rather starve to death than do that again. The sad thing is, in Manhattan, it’s hard to find that “time when no one is around;” that whole city-that-never-sleeps thing has it’s drawbacks.
Flavia says on August 04 2009 at 12:26 pm:

I have made this recipe before and was happy to see you enjoyed it as much as I did. Lemon and blueberries are such a fantastic combination! Beautiful pictures!
Elizabeth says on August 04 2009 at 12:37 pm:

This cake looks beautiful. From what I’ve read of your blog, I love your storytelling! For bettor or worse, I feel as though I’m in that terrible Whole Foods with you.
Ali says on August 04 2009 at 3:12 pm:

“There was a full-on bumper-cart roller derby playing out—and that was just in the produce section.”

Can you include process pictures next time? P.S. cake looks awesome! I see you have bluberries on the mind…
Whitney says on August 04 2009 at 3:45 pm:

That is the worst!

I love that Whole Foods but man I have to go in the middle of the week at like 2 for it to not drive me nuts.
ingrid says on August 04 2009 at 8:51 pm:

Mmmmm, it looks soooo moist! I bet it was fabulous. Two weekends ago I made a blackberry kinds sorta version of this my berries sunk and stuck to the bottom/top!

I have nightmares about that happening to me.
~ingrid
Erin Zackey says on August 04 2009 at 10:53 pm:

Thanks I just picked a whole heap of berries today with the kids and needed a recipe to try out, yum!
dawn says on August 06 2009 at 7:36 am:

I’m one of those people that go to whole foods in the wee morning hours to avoid crowds. I wish we had a super-duper whole foods here in MA, we don’t, but I love my whole foods anywho.
I never would have guessed this cake was from cooking light–looks so moist and heavy. Doesn’t taste diet does it? I must try this one…
mimi says on August 06 2009 at 9:15 am:

omg what a funny story!! i know how WF can get, so i can just imagine how you must have felt (and how everyone behind you snickered, muah!) this bundt looks great!
Cookin' Canuck says on August 06 2009 at 10:15 am:

I’m glad you made it back to retrieve your groceries and lived to tell the tale. This bundt cake looks well worth the effort!
Dixie Caviar says on August 06 2009 at 12:52 pm:

I feel your pain. The new Whole Foods in Venice, CA is the size of a small state, and it’s uber-cool to see and be seen there. When did grocery shopping get so trendy?

Thanks for sharing your story, and thanks for your lovely blog!
Mary says on August 06 2009 at 4:28 pm:

Sister – you forgot to say how HUGE and BEAUTIFUL that store is – I believe it’s their second largest. Also that it has a bar and you can get a beer and walk around in the store with it – that’s probably where the bumper “cars” came into play – drunken drivers
Bundt = GORGEOUS!
Elizabeth says on August 06 2009 at 5:15 pm:

Our Whole Foods is very small,and I really have to pick a perfect time to go, or it is unbearable!
Love the blueberry cake! Beautiful
Susan from Food Blogga says on August 08 2009 at 6:35 pm:

This post was too funny! I still have the image of the roller derby in my mind. And lovely looking cake–it’s so remarkably moist.
Marilou Lissandrello says on August 08 2009 at 8:18 pm:

The cake looks great and I love the fact that it was adapted from Cooking Light. Now I won’t feel so guilty when I make it. Thanks for sharing.
Biz319 says on August 09 2009 at 7:45 am:

Sorry about your wallet – um, I think that’s happened to me a few times!

I have blueberries to use up – think this is the perfect recipe for them. Thanks for sharing!
Sues says on August 09 2009 at 6:00 pm:

I have a great fear that this will happen to me! Glad you got through it and managed to make an amazing looking cake
Kendra says on August 10 2009 at 2:25 pm:

Your cake looked so moist that I had to make it this last weekend. I had some fresh Farmers Market blueberries to use. My husband, two year old son, & I thought this was amazing. We had it for breakfast – yumm! I will definitely make this again!
Tender B. says on August 13 2009 at 4:49 am:

Love blueberries and lemon together. This looks like a little slice of heaven.
Anna says on August 13 2009 at 12:08 pm:

Hi Kristin,
I am a huge long-time fan of your blog, and pass it along every chance I get. You take beautiful photos and make lovely food. Given how thoughtful you seem, I thought you would like to know about the egregiously unethical editorial from the Whole Foods CEO in today’s Wall Street Journal. I hope you’ll reconsider shopping at Whole Foods.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html
Avanika (Yumsilicious Bakes) says on August 16 2009 at 10:53 am:

So sorry about what happened! But the cake must have cheered you up in no time! It looks amazing!
BigGirlPhoebz says on August 19 2009 at 11:31 am:

This cake looks absolutely beautiful. I’m not usually a blueberry fan, or a fruit dessert fan in general, but this looks just good enough to make me a convert. Here’s another blueberry dessert that had me practically licking the plate:

http://www.biggirlssmallkitchen.com/2009/08/baking-for-others-fruit-apathy.html

If I don’t have a bundt cake pan, could I make this in a regular round cake pan? I know it won’t be as beautiful, but perhaps still tasty?

Thanks again for the recipe!
Kristen* says on September 11 2009 at 2:47 pm:

love it. reposted with your link: http://www.blissvideoproductions.com/blog/?p=653

{for some reason share this isn’t working for me}