A gorgeous moist chocolate quick bread with a creamy peanut butter cheesecake baked right in! A dream come true for all peanut butter and chocolate lovers. The cake is truly moist, actually tastes of chocolate and the filling is creamy. Added bonus: freezes perfectly! The measurements for this recipe apply to every country except if you are in Japan, please use weights. The recipe is quite forgiving.

Ingredients

Filling
5 oz / 150 g cream cheese , at room temperature
1/3 cup / 85 g smooth peanut butter
1 egg
1/3 cup / 75 g caster sugar / superfine sugar (2)
1/3 cup / 75 g sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cake
1 1/2 cups / 225 g plain flour (all purpose)
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup / 220 g caster sugar / superfine sugar (2)
1 stick / 125 g unsalted butter
1/4 cup / 60 ml vegetable oil (sub with canola, sunflower or other neutral flavoured oil)
1/3 cup / 40 g cocoa powder , unsweetened
2 eggs
1/2 cup / 125 g yoghurt (3)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups / 200 g dark chocolate chips (4)
Assembly
2 tbsp hot water (5)

Instructions

Filling (1)
Beat the cream cheese and peanut butter using a stand mixer, electric beater or whisk until smooth.
Beat in egg until combined. Beat in remaining ingredients until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Batter
Preheat oven to 180C/350F (fan forced / convection) or 200C / 390F (standard).
Spray a loaf and line a loaf pan (23.5 x 13cm / 8½ x 4¼”) with parchment / baking paper. (I just tear a piece off to line the long side, per photo in post)
Whisk together flour, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl.
Melt butter in microwave in a large heatproof bowl, then whisk in oil and cocoa powder.
Whisk in eggs, yoghurt and vanilla into chocolate mixture. Pour mixture into flour and mix until just combine. Stir through chocolate chips.
Assembly
Remove Filling from fridge, give it a good mix to loosen it up – if it’s too stiff, it will sink into the batter.
Pour 1/3 of the batter into the loaf pan, smooth surface.
Pour over the Filling and smooth surface.
Add 2 tbsp hot water into remaining Batter (5), give it a quick mix to combine. Then pour batter over the Filling and smooth surface.
Bake for 15 minutes, then turn oven down to 160C/320F (fan forced / convection) or 180C / 350F (standard oven). Bake for 55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the top half of the cake comes out almost clean.
Stand for 15 minutes in the loaf pan before using parchment paper overhang to lift onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing – it takes a few hours.
Optional: Drizzle with melted white chocolate and/or peanut butter white chocolate (7).

Notes

1. You can do this by hand because the filling is not meant to be fluffy, you just need the ingredients combined and smooth. Refrigeration firms the filling so it holds its shape when the batter is poured on top but it is still soft enough so it can be spread over the batter on the base. Also it slows down the cooking process slightly so it comes out really creamy once baked.
2. The sugar can be reduced to 3/4 cup. Granulated / normal white sugar also works, but caster sugar dissolves better and faster.
3. I use low fat Greek yoghurt. You could also use sour cream + 2 tbsp hot water, the cake is not quite as tender but there is little difference.
4. Make sure you use cooking chocolate chips from the baking section of the supermarket, not eating chocolate!
5. The purpose of the hot water is to loosen the batter every so slightly so it doesn’t sink into the Filling. Makes the peanut butter filling layer neater!
6. The purpose of baking it at a high temperature first is to get the rise started and slightly stabilised, before turning down the temperature so it is low enough to bake for a long time without the top of the loaf burning. When baked at 160C/320F for the whole time, I found it was raw inside and when baked at 180C/350F for the whole time, the top was slightly burned.
7. To make peanut butter white chocolate for drizzling (see photo below recipe), add 2 tbsp peanut butter to 3/4 cup white chocolate chips. Melt in microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring well in between. Use a teaspoon to drizzle over the cake.
8. Nutrition per serving, assuming 12 servings. Worth every single calorie.