Eggnog Loaf with Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling

Preheat oven to 325 F and grease and line a 2-pound size loaf tin.

Make the filling first: Place cream cheese, cocoa and sugar into a medium sized bowl and beat with a spoon until everything is combined and you have a smooth consistency. Leave to one side.

For the cake: Place flour, baking powder and nutmeg into a medium sized bowl and stir briefly to combine. Leave to one side.

Place butter and sugar into a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes on medium-high speed. Add the eggs, vanilla and rum, if using, scraping sides as necessary, and mix on medium speed until smooth and well combined.

Add the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined. Add in the eggnog (the first amount) and mix on low-medium speed until you have a smooth, well combined cake batter.

Tip 1/2 of the cake batter into your lined tin and smooth until level with a spoon/spatula. Spoon the cream cheese filling into your pan and spread until you have covered the cake batter. Tip the remaining cake batter on top of the cream cheese and smooth until level. Tap the tin on the work surface 3 times, just to ensure there aren’t a bunch of air bubbles in there!

Place in the oven for 60-75 minutes, until risen, golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. You will get chocolate on the skewer, but as long as that’s all you have on it and there are no cake crumbs then it’s done! Remove from oven.

Leave to cool for 10 minutes before poking holes in the top of the cake with a skewer and pouring the remaining eggnog over the top.

Then, leave the cake to cool completely in the pan, before slicing into 12-14 slices.

Eggnog loaf will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature for 3 days, or in the fridge for 5 days. Just take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving.