A diet 'do'

'Diet', 'fat-free' and 'low-cal' aren't labels that excite me while I'm browsing through the grocery store. I don't like to cheat my taste buds. Don't get me wrong, I love to eat healthy, but when I indulge, I say, 'go big, or go home'. Seriously. Life's too short to go without salt butter on your popcorn. However, I do have one exception: If something 'diet' tastes like the real thing, I'm in. Which brings me to these light little treats.

I'm not a big baker (I want to be), but my sweet tooth was hankering for lemon pastries the other day. Instead of settling for a quick, store-bought solution, I decided to bake! While boxed cake mix doesn't qualify as 'from-scratch' baking, I was intrigued by the soda pop in this recipe. Anyway, I figured this baking beginner has to start somewhere...

Diet soda pop cupcakes

*Lemon cake mix & lemon-lime pop*

Cake
-1 box cake mix
-1 1/2 cups diet soda pop (1 can)
-2 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients in a large bowl and pour batter into lined cupcake pan. Bake for 18-23 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

-8 ounces low-fat cream cheese, softened

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 cup marshmallow creme

-1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

-1 cup powdered sugar

-Sprinkles and food coloring (for cuteness)

Whisk together cream cheese, vanilla, marshmallow creme and juice. Once combined, slowly mix in powdered sugar. After cupcakes cool, top with frosting, and decorate.

I'm hooked. What other flavor combos would work in this?

I'm thinking...
-Diet root beer & vanilla cake
-Diet Cherry Coke & chocolate cake
-Diet orange soda & yellow cake
-Diet Ginger ale & carrot cake
-Diet Coke & dark chocolate cake
-Diet cherry soda & funfetti 'rainbow chip' cake
-Diet cream soda & strawberry cake
-Diet Dr. Pepper & chocolate cake
-Diet Fresca & angel food cake

Oh, the possibilities...
Any other ideas?