German Poppy Seed Sheet Cake with Streusel

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A traditional recipe for Old Fashioned German Poppy Seed Cake with Streusel Topping made with homemade poppy seed filling and shortcrust pastry. Jump to Recipe

This is a classic traditional German Poppy Seed Cake with Streusel Topping and a homemade poppyseed filling. A slice of this old-fashioned German Mohnkuchen is perfect for a nice Sunday afternoon!  It’s quick and easy, but with its buttery streusel topping and rich poppy seed custard, anything but ordinary.  

For those of you wanting to run a quick google search, “poppy seed cake” is gaining traction in the Americas, but if you want to see the real deal: type “mohnkuchen” in your search bar. After all, we’re not talking about a few lonely poppyseeds whimsically sprinkled throughout a lemon poppy seed bundt cake. Oh no no no, my friend. In the old-country, the cake IS poppy seed. For a traditional old-fashioned poppy seed cake recipe, search no more. This is it. The moist and dense layer of poppyseeds and the crunchy crumbles on top… what a delight!

The poppyseed or Mohn filling (pronounced “moan”, handily enough) is juicy, buttery, and trades sweetness for a charming, earthy quality that hangs around on the palate, making you crave more.

We will avoid the whole “who did it first?” conversation, but poppyseed fillings are very common throughout Germany, Austria, and some of their closest Eastern European neighbors like Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Where countries like Poland are more likely to use this filling in traditional cookies or small pastries, Germany is all about that big, beautiful poppy seed cake

Homemade poppy seed filling

Here, I didn’t want to go for the prepared poppy seed filling you can buy in some delis and specialty stores so we make it ourselves. It’s super easy and you can pre-make it even a week in advance. I just can’t guarantee someone won’t break into your fridge and sneak spoonfuls. 

You can find good poppy seeds at Whole Foods and most big grocery stores in the bulk food sections. It is worthwhile to pay a little more for a higher grade poppy seeds that taste sweeter. The cheaper poppy seeds have a slight bitterness to them. Store-bought pre-made poppyseed fillings can’t touch this homemade filling.

You can get whole poppy seeds and grind them in your spice grinder. The popyseed filling is thickened with ground soft wheat semolina. Soft wheat semolina is finer ground than hard wheat semolina and is particularly suitable for semolina porridge, pudding or cake. Soft wheat semolina looks whiter than the yellow hard wheat semolina. This semolina is called farina in the United States and may be sold as Cream of Wheat where you live. It’s often also sold in the same aisle as the Indian and Asian ingredients.

How to make German Poppy Seed Cake with Streusel: 

Make streusel pastry: 

1. Preheat your oven to 180℃ (350℉). Line a 30cm x 40cm (12” x 15”) baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In a medium mixing-bowl, blend the butter, sugar, and vanilla sugar together using a hand-mixer until everything is the same texture. Blend in the egg, then once everything is homogenous again, add the flour. Continue with the hand-mixer until the little clumps of your future streusel have formed.
3. Put half of the dough on the parchment-lined baking sheet, and press it out until you’ve fully covered the baking sheet with an even layer. I use the back of a large spoon to help with this, as well as to keep the heat from my hands from melting the butter unduly. 

Make poppy seed filling: 

1. Now, as for the filling: in a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat, add the milk and sugar; stirring until no crystals remain. Once that’s been achieved, begin adding in the semolina flour a couple tablespoons at a time – stirring all the while.
2. The milk has most likely come to a low boil at this point. Allow the semolina flour to cook at that temperature for 2 minutes before adding in the poppyseeds, stirring continuously until you’re confident that everything has come together nicely and had a bit of a chance to cook.
3. Add in the butter, still stirring constantly. Once the butter has melted completely and been incorporated, take your pot of filling off the heat and allow it to cool on the counter for 5 minutes.

Assemble: Once the filling has cooled, spread it evenly upon the dough on the baking sheet. Now take the second half of your dough, and use your hands to roughly break it up into little streusel-y bits as you spread it all across the top of your filling. Bake for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

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Old Fashioned German Poppy Seed Cake with Streusel Topping

A traditional recipe for Old Fashioned German Poppy Seed Cake with Streusel Topping made with homemade poppy seed filling and shortcrust pastry.

Course Dessert

Cuisine German

Keyword German Poppy Seed Cake, old fashioned poppyseed cake

Prep Time 35 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings 12

Calories 289 kcal

Ingredients

Pastry & Streusel

• 500 g all-purpose flour 3 cups + 2 tbsp
• 200 g sugar 1 cup
• 250 g butter softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar extract?

Filling:

• 1 l whole milk 4 cups
• 350 g ground poppy seeds 2 1/2 cups
• 160 g fine semolina finely ground - 1 scant cup
• 250 g sugar 1 1/4 cup
• 100 g butter 1 stick
• 1 tbsp rum / or vanilla essence

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180℃ (350℉). Line a 30cm x 40cm (12” x 15”) baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium mixing-bowl, blend the butter, sugar, and vanilla sugar together using a hand-mixer until everything is the same texture. Blend in the egg, then once everything is homogenous again, add the flour. Continue with the hand-mixer until the little clumps of your future streusel have formed.
3. Put half of the dough on the parchment-lined baking sheet, and press it out until you’ve fully covered the baking sheet with an even layer. I use the back of a large spoon to help with this, as well as to keep the heat from my hands from melting the butter unduly.
4. Now, as for the filling: in a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat, add the milk and sugar; stirring until no crystals remain. Once that’s been achieved, begin adding in the semolina flour a couple tablespoons at a time - stirring all the while.
5. The milk has most likely come to a low boil at this point. Allow the semolina flour to cook at that temperature for 2 minutes before adding in the poppyseeds, stirring continuously until you’re confident that everything has come together nicely and had a bit of a chance to cook.

6. Add in the butter, still stirring constantly. Once the butter has melted completely and been incorporated, take your pot of filling off the heat and allow it to cool on the counter for 5 minutes. I like to add some rum (1 tbsp) or vanilla to this mix.

7. Once the filling has cooled, spread it evenly upon the dough on the baking sheet. Now take the second half of your dough, and use your hands to roughly break it up into little streusel-y bits as you spread it all across the top of your filling. Bake for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

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