China Frosting, part I

I could rhapsodize for days on the beauty of cake lady and her creations. The real cake lady is, of course, a Platonian ideal realized only in imperfect forms here on earth, but those imperfect forms made magical cakes. They also used only one kind of frosting for filling, icing, and decorating the cake, and it was at once smooth, thick, creamy, stiff, and pillowy. A few examples:

I identified the frosting in Nanjing as shiny, probably with egg whites and sugar. The Beijing frosting was not as shiny and definitely included cream, but had the same amazing properties. So today I tried my best to recreate that shiny, smooth, delicate frosting. I'm disappointed. I went with egg whites and a sugar syrup, and the shine is right, but it's too soft and sticky, and doesn't hold shape quite as well as it should. I have to wonder if, against my initial thoughts, the frosting might contain butter to stabilize it. I'll update when I try again. You can see here my frosted (and filled) cupcakes as well as my soft snowman and buddha-type man.

I wanted it to get stiffer, but after 10 minutes in the mixer, I decided whipping it wasn't going to make it any thicker or stiffer. It was also too sweet, much like a marshmallow: I wonder if decreasing the ratio of sugar syrup to egg whites would yield better results? Butter? Cream? Must keep looking . . .