diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/com/amadeus/dataio/pipes/kafka/streaming/KafkaOutput.scala b/core/src/main/scala/com/amadeus/dataio/pipes/kafka/streaming/KafkaOutput.scala
index b10be45..71cfb5c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/com/amadeus/dataio/pipes/kafka/streaming/KafkaOutput.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/com/amadeus/dataio/pipes/kafka/streaming/KafkaOutput.scala
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ import scala.util.Try
  */
 case class KafkaOutput(
     brokers: String,
-    topic: String,
+    topic: Option[String],
     processingTimeTrigger: Trigger,
     timeout: Long,
     mode: String,
@@ -46,14 +46,15 @@ case class KafkaOutput(
     val streamWriter = data.writeStream
       .queryName(queryName)
       .format("kafka")
-      .option("kafka.bootstrap.servers", brokers)
-      .option("topic", topic)
       .options(options)
+      .option("kafka.bootstrap.servers", brokers)
       .outputMode(mode)
-
-    val streamingQuery = streamWriter
       .trigger(processingTimeTrigger)
-      .start()
+
+    val streamingQuery = topic match {
+      case Some(t) => streamWriter.option("topic", t).start()
+      case _       => streamWriter.start()
+    }
 
     streamingQuery.awaitTermination(timeout)
     streamingQuery.stop()
@@ -87,10 +88,7 @@ object KafkaOutput {
    */
   def apply(implicit config: Config): KafkaOutput = {
     val brokers = getBroker
-    val topic = getTopic match {
-      case Some(topicToUse) if topicToUse.nonEmpty => topicToUse
-      case _                                       => throw new IllegalArgumentException("No topic specified for Kafka source")
-    }
+    val topic   = getTopic
 
     val duration              = Duration(config.getString("Duration"))
     val processingTimeTrigger = Trigger.ProcessingTime(duration)