Secret Carrot Cake

Mike and I made a chocolate cheesecake and a carrot cake (my friend's family's secret carrot cake recipe) for his birthday a couple of weeks ago.  I felt privileged to receive the recipe, but was a bit intimidated on baking the cake. After all, I had never tasted the cake and I did not want to mess it up.  The recipe was for a three layered carrot cake with a yummy cream cheese frosting. 
How do you make a tri-layered round cake when you have only own round cake pan, one square pan, and two 9"x13" cake pans? I decided to make a rectangle cake out of one 9"x13" pan and a 9" square pan.

This is my attempt. 

If you have been following my blog for a while, you know that I do not make "pretty items." As much as I want to make cutesy and dainty cakes of perfection, I do not have the patience to do so.  Being pregnant does not help the situation, so I had Mike help beautiful my three layered cake. 

Mike took over frosting this cake and kept laughing and shaking his head while doing so. He kept muttering things like, "If you stack cakes on top of each other, they should not be leaning in one direction," and "You should have placed the cake layer that was falling apart on the bottom. The base is always the most sturdy part of the cake."

Yes Mike, I may not be an engineer like you, but I understand the laws of Physics.  

The cake turned out pretty well. Our friend really enjoyed it and I think I'd make the cake again.  After I baked the carrot cake, I thought that I did something wrong because it was not too sweet.  The cream cheese frosting makes up for the sweetness of the cake and I think is what makes the cake special.