I knew as soon as I glimpsed snacking cakes in “Bridgerton,” I had to make that my pairing.

This super simple lemon loaf cake is vegan and gluten-free, making about 8-12 “servings.”

Cake Ingredients
1 box or bag of gluten-free, vegan yellow cake mix
1 can lemon soda
1 packet yellow food coloring (optional)

Glaze Ingredients
2 cups powdered sugar
0.25 cups vegan butter, melted
2 tablespoons vegan milk
0.5 tablespoons lemon extract or flavoring

Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13 loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.

Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, whisk the cake mix and pour in the can of soda. If you want a vibrantly yellow cake, add in some yellow food coloring.

Pour the cake batter into the loaf pan.

Bake at 350°F for 45-55 minutes, until a toothpick can be inserted and removed without any batter coming out.

Let the cake cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes. Then pull it out of the pan with the parchment paper and let it finish cooling on a baking rack.

Make the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar, melted butter, milk and lemon extract together.

Pour it over the top of the cake, using a frosting knife or spatula to make sure it sticks to the top and all four sides.

Once the glaze has hardened, slice and serve the cake. Enjoy it with an episode or five of “Bridgerton!”

The Easy Route
With the sole essential cake ingredients being a box mix and a can of soda, this one is pretty dang easy. However, you might be able to find a premade glaze instead of making your own.

Know of a restaurant or bakery that makes a vegan, gluten-free glazed lemon loaf cake? Please share those details in the comments.

The Pairing
I want to start this essay on “Bridgerton” by saying that I really was turned off by certain plot points with the lead characters towards the end of season one. I’m not going to spoil anything, but do be warned that I think it gets into a little bit of murky, slightly icky territory of the sexual variety.

However, I absolutely adore a lot of the supporting characters, so when I heard the second season would bring more of them to the forefront, I was on board. And I am truly obsessed with how good the second season was.

If you decide to avoid the murkiness of season one, I do think you can get by jumping right into season two.

“Bridgerton” takes the Jane Austen period pieces I love and sexes them up a bit and diversifies the cast to make a thoroughly modern and compelling story that still remains true to its influences.

The plot centers around the aristocracy in England in the 1800s, especially the dating scene and how vital it is to have the favor of Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) when a young woman makes her formal debut in society.

In the first season, the queen deems Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) her “diamond” of the season. Being overwhelmed by the pressure of finding a suitable match and not really feeling up to putting on a grand spectacle, she makes an agreement with Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page) to pose as a couple.

As in most romcoms with this premise, you can guess what happens, but the journey there is still intriguing.

In the second season, the plot revolves around Daphne’s eldest brother, Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), and his need to find the perfect match.

He believes he has found a perfectly logical young woman for him in Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), but things get complicated when he develops an intense attraction to her sister, Kate (Simone Ashley).

The chemistry between Bailey and Ashley is breathtaking, and I still think about their scenes together a year after watching the episodes.

In addition to these two main plots in the show’s first two seasons, there is a terrific ensemble cast with various subplots.

I especially love the friendship between Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan). Those two are truly friendship goals and I need to know what happens next for them in season three.

Plus, there’s the mystery around who writes the insider gossip column under the pseudonym Lady Whistledown. The column serves as narration for the show, voiced by none other than the iconic Julie Andrews.

There’s also the Queen Charlotte spin-off series, but my love for that will have to wait for another post.

Despite that hiccup at the end of the first season of “Bridgerton,” I still recommend the show to anyone who appreciates Austenesque love stories.

I’m very excited for the third season and can’t wait to see what’s in store for this intrepid ensemble.

If you decide to make a lemon loaf cake and/or watch “Bridgerton,” let us know! Tag us in your Instagram posts & stories, threads, tweets or TikTok videos: @veg_out_recipes