Photo by Ben Fink, "Confetti Cakes for Kids"

These adorable pumpkin cakes are not only edible, they are delicious, says their creator, Elisa Strauss, the founder of Confetti Cakes bakery in New York City.

“No matter what a cake looks like, it’s only fun when it tastes incredible,” she says in the introduction to her upcoming book, Confetti Cakes for Kids: Delightful Cookies, Cakes, and Cupcakes from New York City’s Famed Bakery (Little, Brown and Co.; Nov. 5, $29.99).

The directions for her Pumpkin Mini Cakes fill three pages of the 224-page book. (For a pdf, click here: pumpkin-cakes). The 23 other projects include mini cakes shaped like MP3 players, complete with earbuds; a sock monkey cake perched on a giant spool of thread; a candy factory cake inspired by Willy Wonka; beach pail cupcakes topped with brown-sugar sand and a fondant beach ball; and pajama-shaped cookies just right for a slumber party.

The pumpkin cakes are made from three layers of cake sandwiched with two layers of buttercream frosting, carved into pumpkin shapes. Use the recipes in the book, your own favorite recipes or, to streamline the project, a cake mix and prepared frosting.

Strauss also suggests these ways to make the project a bit quicker or easier:

• Buy already dyed rolled fondant in orange and various colors (usually available at Michael’s Craft Stores, cake decorating stores, etc.)
• Decorate the pumpkins with store-bought candy (such as candy corn for nose and eyes, red or black licorice for mouths). Attach the candies with a little water or royal icing.
• Use edible food markers (sold at cake decorating stores) to decorate the orange-fondant-covered cakes.
• Simplify the designs on the face by using triangles of black fondant for the jack-o’-lanterns’ eyes and noses and half moon for the mouths.
• Instead of fondant, frost the pumpkins with buttercream. Heating the buttercream for a few seconds in the microwave will help it go on smoothly.