Lavender and lemon

In honor of Valentine’s Day cliches, I’m going to talk about cupcakes now. Specifically, I’m going to talk about Hot Spring’s Fat Bottomed Girl’s Cupcakes. Fat Bottomed Girl’s is a cozy shop with pink walls and limited nook seating on Hot Spring’s downtown drag of Central Avenue. Charlene Simon, who owns Bathhouse Soapery and Caldarium next door (receipts from one gets you discounts at the other), opened the shop in November, but it’s taken me a few months to get around to sampling.

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At $3.50 a pop, Fat Bottom’s cupcakes are pricey, but sometimes there are free mini-cupcakes on the counter. And the flavors are super fun. I can’t wait to try pb&j (peanut butter cake and icing, grape jelly filling), champagne (in the batter!) and pistachio and rosewater. The menu changes daily, so not every flavor is available, but there are always several flavors to choose from.

I tasted chocolate on chocolate and lemon and lavender. The chocolate cupcake is basic, but it’s great at what it does. The cake is moist and not overly sweet, topped with butter-cream icing (which I much prefer to confectioner’s) and chocolate shavings. The lemon and lavender is a more grown-up kind of deal. Lemon can sometimes be sharp, but this lemon is mild, and there’s just a hint of lavender and a strong dose of vanilla. The lemon is the cake, the lavender is the frosting, and neither are cloying — although if you’re more gastro-adventurer than sugar-fiend, you could scrape off half the icing and probably really dig this cupcake. Since I am a sugar-fiend, I dug this cupcake as is.

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Check FBG’s facebook page for the day’s flavors and specials. 120 Central Avenue, Hot Springs. (501) 818-0997. Opened 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mon. – Thurs., 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Fri. – Sat., 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sun.

Basically Perfect: Chocolate on chocolate

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