Mohnkuchen Recipe

My dad and I were huge fans of Mohnkuchen when we lived in Germany. Mohnkuchen is made from poppy seeds. It was our favorite shared dessert. Last year I set out to figure out how to make it. There are several versions of Mohnkuchen, but I was searching to make one that was reminiscent of the version we ate while living in Neider Roden, Germany. None of the recipe I saw online looked remotely like it and almost all were missing the key flavor I was certain I remembered.

I finally found a recipe written in German that mentioned almond extract. I combined all the information I gathered into a sugar free whole wheat version for my father and it turned out delicious. Below I will give you the recipe for cooking it with honey or sugar. It is an unusual cake and is sure to be a conversation piece for its interesting appearance and unique flavor.  This recipe calls for quite a few poppy seeds – I recommend getting them in bulk for a better price.

Kayla’s Mohnkuchen Recipe
½ cup Butter or Margarine
1 cup Sugar (or ½ cup Honey)
½ cup Unsweetened Applesauce
4 Eggs
2 ½ cups Poppyseeds
1 cup Flour (or Whole Wheat Flour)
2 tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Almond Extract

Topping
¾ cup Honey
¼ cup Water
¼ tsp. Almond Extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F and lightly grease a 9×13 cake pan.
2. Beat Sugar (or Honey) with Butter (or Margarine), add Applesauce and eggs.
3. In a separate container mix Flour (or Whole Wheat Flour) and Baking Powder.
4. Using a Vitamix or Food Processor process Poppy seeds until they look like a black flour and then mix in with the Flour mixture.
5.  Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then add Almond Extract and mix thoroughly.
6. Pour prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
7. While cake bakes make the topping. Add Honey and Water to a small pot and allow it to boil while stirring for up to 10 minutes. Once off heat add Almond Extact.
8. Check to see if it is done by inserting a clean fork into center of the loaf until it comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a plate.
9. As the cake cools apply layers of topping allowing it to soak into the cake before applying the next layers.  I sliced my finished cake in half and made it into a two layer cake.
10. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Variation
I also made these as tiny cupcakes to give away during the holiday season. They were a huge hit!