German Poppy Seed Cake with Lemon Icing

4.81 from 21 votes

A delicious light poppy seed cake from Germany. The cake is topped with a rich Lemon Cream Cheese Icing.

Course Cake

Cuisine German

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 10

Servings slices

Calories 578kcal

Author Marita

200 gr butter ¾ cup or 7 oz – at room temperature
4 eggs at room temperature
250 gr sugar 1 cup and ⅛ cup or 8.8 oz
200 gr ground poppy seeds 1.5 cups or 7 oz
300 gr plain flour 2 cups or 10 oz, in Germany Type 405 flour, UK plain flour, US pastry flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
300 gr plain full-fat yoghurt 1 cup and 3 tablespoon or 10 oz
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
lemonzest of half a lemon

Preheat the oven to 180°C or 356°F
Using a stand or hand mixer add the butter, eggs and sugar to the bowl. Whisk until mixture is creamy.
Add the yoghurt, poppy seeds and cinnamon and lemon zest to the bowl. Whisk the ingredients until you achieve a smooth batter.
In a separate bowl, sieve the flour and baking powder together.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then whisk to completely combine.
Pour or spread the batter into a greased cake tin.
Bake the cake for about 50 minutes. Oven times may vary. To check if the cake is done, poke a toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean your cake is done. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool before adding the icing.

Sieve the icing/confectioners sugar into a bowl.
Whisk in the lemon juice spoon by spoon until you achieve a thick, creamy consistency.
If the icing gets too liquid add more icing sugar. If it is too hard to spread, add a couple of drops of lemon juice.
Spread with a knife or a palette knife over the cake and leave to set.