German Poppy Seed Streusel Cake | Mohnkuchen Mit Streuseln -

You really don’t need much but these are my favorite items to make this cake:

• Stand mixer: I love using my Kitchenaid for mixing and kneading the dough. I can also let the yeast dough rise right in the bowl of my stand mixer.
• High-speed blender: Grinding the whole poppy seeds takes about 15 seconds in my Vitamix.
• Wire whisk: this is very helpful for making the poppy seed filling
• Rolling pin: to roll out the yeast dough
• Half baker’s sheet: this is the perfect size for this delicious cake
• Parchment paper: I love how I don’t have to grease my baking sheet and how easily the cake comes off it after baking

1. In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, warm milk, egg, salt, and melted butter.
2. Using the dough hook or your hands, mix the dough ingredients until they come together. Knead for another 5-10 mins.
3. Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature or in a warm spot until it has doubled in size.

1. Grind the poppy seeds.
2. To a medium size pot, add salt, cornstarch, milk, and sugar. Using a wire whisk, mix until smooth. Whisk in the poppy seeds and the egg.
3. Over low-medium heat and while constantly stirring, bring this mixture to just boiling. Remove it from the heat and set it aside to let it cool down.

1. Combine ingredients for the streusel in a medium bowl.
2. Using a fork, pastry blender, or your hands work this dough until you get a crumbly consistency. Set it aside.

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F
2. When the yeast dough has doubled in size, transfer it to a lightly floured work surface.
3. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a big rectangle.
4. Place the poppy seed mixture directly on the dough, leaving about ½ inch on each side.
5. Starting with the long side, carefully roll up the dough into a long roll.
6. Transfer the dough roll onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper
7. Starting from the middle, cut the roll in half lengthwise and braid it. Then cut it lengthwise in the other direction and braid it as well.
8. Gently press the streusel topping all over the roll.
9. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 30-40 mins or until golden-brown on top.
10. Remove it from the oven and let the cake cool.

1. Combine the lemon juice and powdered sugar to a smooth glaze.
2. Drizzle it generously over the poppy seed cake.
3. Cut the cake into slices and enjoy!

Here are some ingredient substitutions and variations for your German Mohnkuchen:

• Flour: You can easily use spelt or einkorn flour for this recipe. If you have a favorite gluten-free flour, you could use that, too.
• Sugar: just because of the color, I like using light sugar. If you don’t mind a darker color of the dough, you can also use brown sugar.
• Milk: we always use cow’s milk but this cake is just as delicious as with any plant-based milk.
• Streusel topping: you can make a delicious almond crumble by adding some almond flour to the topping
• Lemon glaze: feel free to add some lemon zest to the glaze

• High-speed blender: For grinding the poppy seeds you can also use a food processor, a spice grinder, or your coffee grinder. If you’re using the latter two, you might have to work in batches.
• Baker’s sheet: You can make this cake in a springform pan as well, even though it might be a bit trickier to cut and braid the strands into a round.

This cake is really a stand-alone. Germans love to have it in the afternoon with a cup of coffee or tea.

Even though we cut it into slices, sometimes we just want a small bite. Then we’ll just cut the Mohnkuchen into smaller squares.

You can make this poppy seed streusel cake, aka Mohnstreuselkuchen, easily ahead of time. At room temperature, this cake will last up to 3 days.

If you’d like to keep it longer, I suggest freezing it. Simply place your slices onto a piece of cardboard just a little bit smaller than your ziplock bag. Gently press the excess air out of the ziplock bag and freeze the Mohnkuchen. You can either let it thaw at room temperature or gently warm it up in the oven.

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Poppy seeds:

Stand mixer:

Pastry blender: