diff --git a/streams-bootstrap-core/src/main/java/com/bakdata/kafka/util/TopicClient.java b/streams-bootstrap-core/src/main/java/com/bakdata/kafka/util/TopicClient.java
index a25006f7..82c5ba58 100644
--- a/streams-bootstrap-core/src/main/java/com/bakdata/kafka/util/TopicClient.java
+++ b/streams-bootstrap-core/src/main/java/com/bakdata/kafka/util/TopicClient.java
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.common.KafkaFuture;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.TopicPartition;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.TopicPartitionInfo;
-import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.UnknownTopicOrPartitionException;
 import org.jooq.lambda.Seq;
 
 /**
@@ -180,12 +179,9 @@ public void close() {
      * @return whether a Kafka topic with the specified name exists or not
      */
     public boolean exists(final String topicName) {
-        try {
-            this.getDescription(topicName);
-            return true;
-        } catch (final UnknownTopicOrPartitionException e) {
-            return false;
-        }
+        final Collection<String> topics = this.listTopics();
+        return topics.stream()
+                .anyMatch(t -> t.equals(topicName));
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/streams-bootstrap-core/src/testFixtures/java/com/bakdata/kafka/KafkaTest.java b/streams-bootstrap-core/src/testFixtures/java/com/bakdata/kafka/KafkaTest.java
index b0ca274d..92f91c57 100644
--- a/streams-bootstrap-core/src/testFixtures/java/com/bakdata/kafka/KafkaTest.java
+++ b/streams-bootstrap-core/src/testFixtures/java/com/bakdata/kafka/KafkaTest.java
@@ -45,12 +45,16 @@ public static KafkaContainer newCluster() {
                 .withTag("3.8.1"));
     }
 
-    public static ConditionFactory awaitAtMost(final Duration timeout) {
+    private static ConditionFactory awaitAtMost(final Duration timeout) {
         return await()
                 .pollInterval(Duration.ofSeconds(2L))
                 .atMost(timeout);
     }
 
+    private static String getUniqueAppId(final ExecutableStreamsApp<?> app) {
+        return new ImprovedStreamsConfig(app.getConfig()).getAppId();
+    }
+
     protected KafkaEndpointConfig createEndpointWithoutSchemaRegistry() {
         return KafkaEndpointConfig.builder()
                 .bootstrapServers(this.getBootstrapServers())
@@ -80,10 +84,6 @@ protected SchemaRegistryClient getSchemaRegistryClient() {
         return this.testTopologyFactory.getSchemaRegistryClient();
     }
 
-    private static String getUniqueAppId(final ExecutableStreamsApp<?> app) {
-        return new ImprovedStreamsConfig(app.getConfig()).getAppId();
-    }
-
     protected void awaitProcessing(final ExecutableStreamsApp<?> app, final Duration timeout) {
         this.awaitActive(app, timeout);
         awaitAtMost(timeout)