triple-layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

i'm sort of on a cake kick. it could be that we are in the midst of a new england winter and my body is craving lots of sugar, carbs and calories.  and cutting a large piece of cake over a small cupcake fulfills my desire for large portions. oh, and the happiness i get from making the first cut into a cake and seeing the beauty of the layers with velvety frosting sandwiched in between is a thing of delight for me. like receiving a brand spanking new magazine in the mail and having a moment for myself to indulge and flip through the images. cakes are way up on the happiness scale for me, my friends.

we hosted christmas at our house this year. and i wanted to come up with a new recipe for dessert. my friend, emily, is a baker. not a professional baker, but she rocks it in that department and is also an eye doctor on the side. a girl with many talents. she has always been a big fan of bon appetit magazine so i decided to start my search for a dessert for christmas there. i ended up with a triple-layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting from epicuriou.com. 

i didn't cover the entire cake in frosting because for some reason i like to see the layers.

give it a try, and let me know what you think.