German Poppy Seed Roll (Mohnstriezel)

Easy and perfect German poppy seed roll aka poppy seed coffeee cake. Made with homemade yeast dough that’s filled with homemade poppy seed marzipan filling and finished off with crumbles to create a delicious dessert worthy of any celebration.

My husband, Jo is a huge fan of marzipan and poppy seeds baked goodies. A few days ago was his birthday and he requested for poppy seed roll with marzipan from me and a poppy seed marzipan cake from his mother.

Well that’s Jo for you, always requesting the same cake and roll for his birthday. So, I made this easy to follow, delicious and perfect poppy seed roll with marzipan a night before.

The poppy seed roll is made with homemade sweet yeast dough that rises twice (after making the dough and after rolling it), filled with homemade poppy seed marzipan filling and topped with crumbles. After baking it’s brushed with warm jam and sprinkled with lemon icing.

I made this poppy seed roll a couple of times and every time I make it, it always turns out perfectly well. Definitely a keeper!

My husband’s family were blown away the first time I made it. They were like from which bakery did you buy this amazing roll. Duh, I made it. If you’re not a fan of marzipan, just cut the amount in half or omit it.

How to make German poppy seed roll

Making German poppy seed roll also known as poppy seed coffee cake is way easier to make than you think. All you have to do is roll out the dough after the first rise and spread with poppy seed marzipan filling that’s flavored with lemon and vanilla.

Then roll it up and top with crumbles before the second rise. Immediately after baking you brush it with jam and sprinkle with lemon icing. Done.

The poppy seed roll makes a perfect make-ahead breakfast or afternoon tea/ coffee.

What you’ll need to make German poppy seed roll from scratch (Mohnstriezel)

Ingredients for yeast dough:

• 500 g (17.6 oz/ 4 cups) plain flour (all purpose flour), plus extra for dusting
• 2 ½ teaspoons dry yeast (1 package of dry yeast (7 g/ ¼ oz))
• 1 medium egg
• 50 g (1.8 oz/ ¼ cup) sugar
• 80 g (2.8 oz/1/3 cup) butter
• 250 ml (8.5 fl oz/ 1 cup) whole milk
• 1 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for poppy seed filling with marzipan

• 200 g (7.1 oz) ground poppy seeds
• 50 g (1.8 oz/ ¼ cup) sugar
• 350 ml (12 fl.oz/ 1 ½ cups) milk
• paste for 1 vanilla bean
• 1 medium egg
• 200 g (7.1 oz) marzipan
• 30 g (1.1 oz/ ¼ cup) corn flour/ corn starch
• 1 lemon, organic

Ingredients for the streusel/ crumble topping

• 100 g (3.5 oz/ about ¾ cup + 2 tbsp) plain flour (all purpose flour)
• 100 g (3.5 oz/ 2/3 cup) almonds flakes/ cut into small pieces
• 50 g (1.8 oz/ ¼ cup) sugar
• 100 g (3.5 oz/ about 1/3 cup + 2tbsp) butter

You’ll also need:

• 3 tablespoons apricot jam or any (I’ve used homemade apple -pear jam)
• 55 g (2 oz/ about ½ cup icing (powdered) sugar
• about 2 ½ tablespoons freshly pressed lemon juice

How to make German poppy seed coffee cake

How to make the yeast dough

Warm milk in the microwave. Pour half of the milk in a jar. Put the butter in the remaining milk in the jar and melt in the microwave.

Stir occasionally until butter has melted. You could also use a pot and warm the milk on the stove.

In the meantime add 2 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and yeast to the jar with lukewarm milk. Stir well and let the mixture stand for 10 minutes.

Remove the jar with milk – butter mixture from the microwave and let cool. Put the flour, the remaining sugar, egg and salt in a bowl. Then pour in the yeast – sugar mixture.

Start mixing, while adding the lukewarm milk – butter mixture slowly. It’s very important that milk and butter mixture is lukewarm and not hot before using it.

Knead the yeast dough and let rise

Knead the dough very well. I normally knead my dough like this:

• If I’m kneading it with the hand mixer, I knead the dough for about 8 minutes at low speed and then for 5 minutes at medium high speed.
• With the kitchen machine, I knead the dough for 7 minutes at low speed and for 3 more minutes at medium high speed.
• With the hands, I knead the dough for 10 minutes. If the dough is sticky, just rub your hands with a few drops of sunflower oil or similar.
• If you’re using a heavy duty kitchen machine, please knead your dough for maximum 7 minutes.

Cover the bowl with cling film and then with kitchen towel. Let the dough rise for about 2 hours at room temperature. 

• Note: After kneading the dough it becomes less sticky. Thus why you don’t necessarily have to dust the bowl with flour before the first rise.

How to make poppy seed filling

In the meantime make the poppy seed filling: In the meantime make the poppy seed filling: Using the tip of the knife split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the vanilla seeds. Pour 3/4 of the milk in a pot and add sugar and vanilla seeds from the vanilla bean and let cook.

In the meantime zest the lemon. All you have to do is cut a parchment paper of the same length as the box grater, place it on the side that isn’t finger friendly and grate.

Using a parchment paper makes it easier to remove the zest from the parchment paper. On top of that you won’t be having any lemon zest lying around. Next add cornstarch to the remaining milk and stir well.

Using a hand grater, grate the marzipan.

Once the milk starts cooking immediately add poppy seed to the pot and mix well. Then stir in milk – cornflour mixture followed by the lemon zest. Let the poppy seed mixture cook for about 2 minutes.

Next remove from heat and crack in the egg and mix well. Add grated marzipan, combine well and let the filling infuse in the fridge while the dough is rising.

How to make almond crumbles for the topping

Shortly before the end of the first rise make the crumbles. Simply add sugar, almonds, butter and flour to an empty bowl.

Using your hands mix all the ingredients together until small crumbles start to form and set aside as well.

How to roll poppy seed roll

After you let the dough rise for about 2 hours , remove it from the bowl and put it on a lightly floured silicone pastry mat or cutting board.

Slightly flour the dough and roll it with a lightly floured rolling pin into a rectangle about 40 x 50 cm (approximately 15 x 20 inches)). Spread the poppy seed filling over the rolled out dough, leaving 1 cm (0.4 inch) free and then roll.

First roll up about 3 cm (1.18 inch) (this is just an estimation I made when writing the recipe. So there is no need to be exact.) of the rolled out dough spread with poppy seed filling on both short sides.

Then carefully roll up the dough lengthwise so that in the end you have one long roll.

Gently lift up the roll and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Lightly brush the roll with water and sprinkle the top with crumbles. Using your hands gently press the crumbles on top of the roll, so that they won’t slide off.

Cover the roll with kitchen towel and let rise for another 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 ° C (356 °F), with both top and bottom heat. After the second rise bake for 50 minutes.

Immediately after baking brush with warm jam and let cool for few minutes while making the icing sugar.

In the meantime combine powdered sugar and lemon in a bowl and mix well and then drizzle the roll with icing. Enjoy!!

Mostriezel Recipe FAQ

How long will this poppy seed roll keep?

The poppy seed roll stays fluffy, moist and light even after 3 days at room temperature. Just keep baking sheet with poppy seed roll covered with a kitchen towel. To prevent it from drying out.

What can I use instead of vanilla bean?

This recipe calls for vanilla bean, but feel free to use seeds from one vanilla bean, about ¼teaspoon vanilla extract or about 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar. Just reduce the amount of sugar if you’re using vanilla sugar.

Can I omit marzipan?

Of course, if you’re not a fan of marzipan, just cut the amount in half or omit it.

More baked sweet yeast bread recipes you’ll love

• Homemade apple rolls
• German butter cake with almonds and cream
• German nut braid

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