Fat Girlz Bakin Cupcakes are the Fox Valley’s Newest Guilty Pleasure
Over 100 red velvet cupcakes were strewn about the Fat Girlz Bakin LLC kitchen as owner Lynne Krueger meticulously packaged each one for a downtown business that she would deliver to on her Monday off. Several regulars wave as they pass by her colorful window, bobbing their heads to Top Spins’ vinyl records playing next door.
This is a typical routine at the newest cupcake shop in Downtown Appleton; however, when the store is open, customers are also added to the mix as they flow in and out for their individual cupcakes. 
When Lynne first entered the vacant lot that eventually became Fat Girlz Bakin in June, she envisioned what customers see today at her small business located on Appleton Road across from the Houdini Plaza.
The 160-square-foot building is brightly adorned in Tiffany blue, baby pink and celadon green polka dots and vertical stripes against a white backdrop.
Since its opening seven months ago, Fat Girlz Bakin has made over 7,000 cupcakes! Five out of 114 available cupcake flavors fill the glass display case each day.
Lynne said she bakes all of her cupcakes scratch using real ingredients.
“I want [customers] to take away a product that I am very proud to put out,” she said. “We want to give them a product that if they’re not happy with it, we will make them happy.”
Cupcakes range from regular sizes at $2.75 to mini sizes at $1.25. Saturday morning quiches are available for $1.50 each. The most popular cupcakes are those covered in anything chocolate, the Vanilla Bean with mascarpone frosting and liquor-based cupcakes.
One of the important pieces of the business that Lynne hopes people take away from Fat Girlz Bakin – aside from tasting the most delicious cupcake of their lives – is feeling like they were home watching mom bake.
“It’s kind of like your back nook, New York-style store with ma and pa coming in to say, ‘Hey!’” Lynne said. “We have a lot of customers that we know by name and we hope to make friends and customers out of everyone that comes here.”
Lynne grew up with a stay-at-home mom, Marie, who raised eight children and taught them how to make all of their food from scratch.
“We had everything homemade: bread, cookies, candy, pies, cakes – everything … so we were the popular house in the neighborhood,” she laughed.
While Marie baked everything she could, Lynne found her niche in cupcakes, which she and a friend decided to bake and sell at the Downtown Appleton Farmer Market under the name Fat Girlz Bakin.
“It was a name that made you smile and people remembered us,” she said.
When Lynne’s mother passed away, she kept her mind occupied by baking 225 cupcakes for the funeral. She says the last thing she could do for her mother was give her the same gift she always shared with her children: Baked good from scratch.
Upon Marie’s death, each of Lynne’s seven siblings inherited a small amount of money that Lynne put towards opening her business. Even though Marie did not get to see Fat Girlz Bakin takeoff when its doors opened, Lynne has never forgotten her mother’s support and kindness.
“Fat Girlz came to be because my mother’s love of her family. It’s because of her that I am here today, so she is the driving force. She is here everyday with me,” Lynne said tearfully.
It was also the inspiration for the T-shirts sold at the store: “Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you a cupcake and that’s kind of the same thing.”
Lynne and her husband Stephen plan to open a second store and move to a larger building when the time is right.
“We want to be that little star on top of the tree; we want to sparkle and shine, and we’re going to take our time and do it with baby steps,” Lynne said.
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Customers can reserve their goodies by calling, texting, e-mailing or Facebooking Fat Girlz Bakin ahead of time for pick up.
Learn more about Fat Girlz Bakin by visiting their website at http://www.fatgirlzbakin.com or Facebook page!
Article By: Felicia Clark