Spicy Peanut Butter Mousse-filled Chocolate Coffee Cake

Years ago, I bought a Betty Crocker Bake'n Fill pan set, and I've used it with varying levels of success over the years. I think this one will be remembered as a hit.

First, I made this eggless chocolate cake, (because I was out of eggs) except that I used baby food carrots instead of oil. It added moisture without any fat. But don't worry! The "no fat" wasn't the goal; it was really just an experiment to see how the cake would turn out. Turns out, it's spongy and moist, and tastes very nicely of coffee-flavored chocolate.

I used the more "squared off" of the two outer cake pans (one is round for balls and more uniformly dome-shaped cakes) and put the filling insert in. Then I baked the cake base.

Next, I made the peanut butter mousse from this recipe, but we didn't have any heavy cream and I wasn't willing to walk further than the 7-11 at 8:30 last night, so we substituted almost an entire can of spray whipped cream. Oh! Also, I used half regular peanut butter and half of the Rebo spicy peanut butter from Haiti. (Please take the time to read that article; it's a good one.)

After I put the mousse into the cake well, I topped it with the base and put it in the refrigerator to set overnight.

This afternoon, I melted a stick of butter. I melted a bag of chocolate chips. Then I mixed that with about 2 tablespoons of corn syrup and enough powdered sugar that it looked like frosting. You know what I mean.

I frosted the cake and put it all in the fridge to let the frosting harden so that I could wrap the cake without making it look too hideous, and here is the outcome. Daphne said it's delicious! (I'm still too full from sampling frosting to try it.)

This cake is an honorary birthday cake for my brother-in-law, who lives many miles away and can't enjoy it, but don't worry, Khrys: Tomorrow, we will eat this thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we have to, just to prove how much we honor your special day.