Birfday Cupcakes

I wanted to surprise Chris with some birthday cupcakes when he got home from New York....He did get the cupcakes, but they were about a week late. :)
My super amazing plan was to make peanut butter cupcakes with a thick, fluffy coco frosting. This is what really happened...

Peanut Butter Cupcakes! These Rock.

1/2 C Peanut Butter
1/3 C Shortening
1 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
--------
2 C Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 C Milk

Cream together PB, Shortening, and Vanilla. Gradually add Brown Sug; beating until
light and fluffy. Add Eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
Sift together dry ingredients, add alternately with Milk.
Bake @ 375 for 20 min, makes close to 2 dozen.


The cupcakes turned out rather dense, but it is Peanut Butter, so I sort of expected that. Not fluffy but full of flavor. NOW! The next step! Fluffy Frosting!
I've never made frosting before. I usually stick with a basic powder sugar icing and use it on cookies. I grew up eating holiday treats with this type of icing and it is the Best, especially after a day or two when it hardens!

My 50 year old Better Homes cook book was going to be my frosting sherpa.

After debating what kind of frosting would go best with PB cupcakes, Plus trying to match what I know Chris liked I decided on a recipe-my the name of it, how I could go wrong?!- FLUFFY FROSTING. Ok, great!
Almost all of the recipes involved boiling the sugar and I was quite excited to give this a try.

Fluffy Frosting:
1 C Sugar
1/3 C Water
1/4 tsp of Cream of Tar Tar OR 2 tsp Corn Syrup
Dash o Salt
1 Egg White
1/4 tsp Vanilla

Bring sugar, water and corn syrup and salt to a boil, cook until sugar dissolves.
Slowly add to beaten Egg White, constantly beating with an electric beater until
of spreading consistency; Add Vanilla.

LIARS!

I beat that mix for over 10 min. It wasn't even remotely close to being "Fluffy Frosting".
At this point I'm still determined to achieve a fluffy frosting status for these cupcakes. Recipe #2 was just called Boiled Frosting, basically had all the same ingredients except in different proportions, but also had a description I had never seen before...
While you are boiling the sugar and water, you are supposed to keep cooking it until "Soft ball stage, 236 degrees" Um, ok. So, with no candy thermometer I was just guessing and....

Again! Nothing!
This one was Slightly more fluffy than the first...but still not even in the same universe as frosting.
Failure, frustration, I gave up.
Any suggestions on how to make Fluffy Frosting would be greatly appreciated.

This time, these little cakes had to go naked.