Black Pepper Chocolate Coffee Cake

Is largely this recipe and most of the modifications are via MJ

Ingredients
Batter
1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt (none if using salted butter)
1/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon espresso powder
Filling
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Spread 1/2 of batter in the prepared pan.

Mix together filling ingredients. Sprinkle cake batter with 1/2 the filling. Spread second half of batter over the filling, and top with remaining filling. This is harder than it sounds since the batter is just as thick as you'd expect once you realize that no actual liquids are involved.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

My pepper is super finely ground, which makes these measurements too much. It's still yummy though. I think I will successfully manage to feed most of it to coworkers.