Poppy Seed Cake Recipe
This is my absolute favorite cake, and I eat it every time I visit Germany: streusel poppy seed cake – German Streusel Mohnkuchen.
This picture of the cake taken at my beloved Rilke Cafe in the charming village of Fischerhude two weeks ago, which we visited again with my mom and brother and aunt during our recent visit.
Can you believe how tall Landon is by now?! He’s only 11.
If you want to see more of this cafe the famous German poet Rainer Maria Rilke lived in, check out this post.
I wanted to share the recipe for this delicious cake with you!
My pictures from years ago could be better, but it tastes the same :)
Because I only bought one cup of poppy seeds, I cut the dough ingredients in half, which was plenty of dough.
In the future, I’m going to double the filling, because that is my favorite part of this cake.
I also substituted the flour for whole-wheat flour and used organic cane sugar to make a healthier version, that’s why it looks a bit different.
I hope you’ll enjoy making and eating this cake!
Streusel Poppy Seed Cake – German Streusel Mohnkuchen
Serves 8 to 10 (well, in our house, this makes about 4 servings, ha!)
Poppy Seed Cake Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup margarine (note: I used butter-flavored Crisco and 3 tsp. water)
- 1 egg
- 4 cups flour
- 1/2 cup evaporated milk
- 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
For the filling:
- 1/3 cup. cream of wheat
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 tbsp. butter
- 1 cup poppy seeds
- 1 egg
For the streusel topping:
- 1 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tbsp. evaporated milk
Poppy Seed Cake Directions
Dough: Combine all ingredients in a food processor, and pulse until lumps form. (I don’t have a food processor and my hand mixer did just fine). Then press the dough into a 10-in. springform pan. Set the pan aside while you start the poppy seed filling.
Filling:
Pour the water into a saucepan and prepare the cream of wheat, using that water, according to the directions on the box.
Once the cream of wheat is soft and has thickened, remove from the heat.
Stir in the sugar, vanilla, butter, and poppy seeds. The sugar should dissolve.
Stick the bowl in the fridge — without adding the egg.
Chill the mixture before adding the egg so that you don’t end up with scrambled eggs.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Streusel:
Put all the streusel ingredients into the food processor and pulse until lumpy (but not doughy).
This is where I made my mistake: I used my hand mixer too long and the dough went from lumpy to doughy.
You need the streusel mix to be lumpy so you can crumble it over the filling, so I had to add more flour. Next time I’m going to just mix this with a fork.
Check if the filling has cooled off. Add the egg and mix well before you pour all of the filling over the crust.
Then sprinkle the streusel over the filling. Voila, ready for baking!
The Mohnkuchen will take about 1 hour to bake; the streusel should be lightly browned.
After baking it, chill the cake until it’s cool. I know, that’s so hard to do!
During this time, it will firm up even more. After it has chilled, remove the springform.
Dig in and let me know what you think! Guten Appetit!
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Poppy Seed Cake – Streusel German Mohnkuchen Recipe
