Black Forest Cake

Overview

Black Forest Cake is a cooking recipe in Starsand Island that produces a rich chocolate dessert with top-tier stamina recovery. It requires four ingredients: Flour, Milk, Sugar, and Honey. The recipe is purchased from the Merchant Ship, a floating vendor that docks at Starsand Port and refreshes its stock every Monday.

With +143 stamina recovery and a sell price of 434 coins, Black Forest Cake sits at the top of the dessert tier alongside Cheesecake and Tiramisu. It does not grant any special buff, so its value comes from the combination of strong stamina restoration and solid profitability. The recipe demands a total of 15 ingredient units per cook (8 Flour, 2 Milk, 3 Sugar, 2 Honey), meaning players need well-established production lines for Wheat, ranching, and beekeeping before cooking it efficiently.

Black Forest Cake is also a loved gift for Nia, the island's botanist, making it a useful item for building friendship beyond its cooking and selling value.

Recipe Details

Ingredients

Where to Get the Recipe

The Black Forest Cake recipe is purchased from the Merchant Ship, a floating vendor that docks at Starsand Port in Half-Moon Bay. The ship's stock refreshes every Monday and includes rare recipes that are not available from any mainland shop.

Before you can access the Merchant Ship, you must complete the Starsand Port Construction quest given by Marston. This quest involves gathering construction materials and rebuilding the port dock. Once the port is operational, the Merchant Ship begins docking on a weekly cycle.

The Merchant Ship operates from 08:00 to 22:00 and sells a rotating selection of rare items alongside its recipe offerings. Check every Monday for new recipes, including Black Forest Cake, Cheesecake, Tiramisu, and other dishes not found in the Auraleaf Kitchen. Recipe availability may rotate, so visit the ship regularly until you find the one you need.

Ingredient Sourcing

Black Forest Cake requires ingredients from four different production chains: crop processing (Flour), ranching (Milk), crop processing (Sugar), and beekeeping (Honey). This makes it one of the more demanding recipes in terms of infrastructure. Here is how to source each ingredient.

Flour (8 per Cook)

Flour is the largest ingredient requirement for Black Forest Cake. It is produced by processing Wheat through the Separator. Wheat is a Starter-tier farmland crop that grows in all four seasons, so you can produce Flour year-round without worrying about seasonal restrictions.

Wheat seeds are available from the Happiness Seed Shop and can be planted from the very start of the game. Since each Black Forest Cake requires 8 Flour, you will need a large and consistent Wheat supply. Dedicate several crop tiles to Wheat and keep your Separator running continuously. Building multiple Separators helps if you cook Black Forest Cake frequently.

Milk (2 per Cook)

Milk is obtained from cows through the ranching system. You need female black-and-white cows housed in a Cow Barn. Cows must be fed daily with Animal Feed to stay healthy and produce byproducts. Once your cows are well-fed and happy, they will produce Milk that you can collect each day.

Cows can be purchased from the Green Pasture Ranch next to your home. You will also need to unlock the Cow Barn blueprint by progressing through the Rancher profession with Pastelle. With 2 Milk needed per Black Forest Cake, keeping two or three producing cows ensures you never run short.

Sugar (3 per Cook)

Sugar is a processed ingredient made by putting Sugarcane or Beetroot into the Separator. You need 3 Sugar per Black Forest Cake. Sugarcane is an all-season crop that grows in Paddy Fields, making it available year-round. Beetroot is another option that produces Sugar through the same process.

If you are already processing Wheat into Flour on one Separator, consider building a second Separator dedicated to Sugar production. Both Flour and Sugar come from the same station, so having two running in parallel prevents bottlenecks.

Honey (2 per Cook)

Honey is produced by Beehives on your farm. To start beekeeping, you must reach Intermediate Rancher tier at the Green Pasture Ranch, then purchase the Beehive blueprint from Pastelle's shop. Crafting a Beehive costs 6 Honeycomb, 6 Hardwood Planks, and 3 Iron Sheets.

Honeycomb is found by chopping down Banyan Trees and White Fig Trees that have small yellow wild beehives hanging from their branches. Good locations for finding wild hives include the forest west of Cloudrest Lake and Windflute Island. After crafting and placing your Beehive, catch Bumblebees with a net (found near flowers around Zephyria's house) and place them in the hive's 13 available slots. Bees work between 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM, collecting nectar and producing Honey throughout the day.

With 2 Honey needed per Black Forest Cake, a well-populated Beehive provides enough daily Honey for multiple servings. Placing hives near crop fields also grants a pollination bonus that speeds up crop growth.

Profitability

At a sell price of 434 coins, Black Forest Cake is tied with Cheesecake and Tiramisu as the highest-selling dessert dishes in the game. However, its profitability must be weighed against its heavy ingredient requirements. Each serving needs 15 total ingredient units across four different production chains, making it one of the more resource-intensive recipes to produce in bulk.

Selling to the Merchant Ship on Monday at 200% price brings the sell value to 868 coins per dish. If you stockpile Black Forest Cake throughout the week and sell in bulk on Monday, the returns become much more attractive despite the high ingredient cost.

For players focused purely on coin efficiency, Tiramisu achieves the same 434-coin sell price without requiring any Flour, making it the better choice when Wheat supply is limited. Black Forest Cake is best used when you have surplus Flour and want to convert it into income rather than letting processed Wheat sit in storage.

Related Dessert Recipes

The following table compares all dessert recipes in Starsand Island. Black Forest Cake, Cheesecake, and Tiramisu share the top stamina and sell price tier, while lighter desserts offer easier ingredient requirements at lower returns.

Black Forest Cake and Cheesecake share identical ingredients, stamina recovery, and sell price. The only difference between them is the recipe name; they are functionally interchangeable. If you have unlocked one but not the other, there is no reason to seek the second unless you want to complete your recipe collection.

Tips

• Flour is the biggest bottleneck for Black Forest Cake. Each serving needs 8 Flour, which requires a large amount of Wheat. Dedicate at least a full row of crop tiles to Wheat and keep your Separator running at all times.

• Build multiple Separators if you cook Black Forest Cake regularly. One can handle Wheat-to-Flour processing while the other handles Sugarcane-to-Sugar, preventing queue delays.

• Since Black Forest Cake and Cheesecake use identical ingredients, you can switch between the two freely depending on which recipe you have unlocked first. There is no gameplay difference between them.

• Consider cooking Tiramisu instead if Flour is scarce. Tiramisu skips the 8-Flour requirement while providing the same +143 stamina and 434-coin sell price, making it more efficient per ingredient.

• If you have not yet unlocked beekeeping, prioritize reaching Intermediate Rancher tier. Without a reliable Honey supply, Black Forest Cake production stalls. Focus on completing Pastelle's ranching quests early.

• Black Forest Cake is a loved gift for Nia. If you are building friendship with the island's botanist, cooking a few extra servings to give as gifts is an efficient use of your ingredients.

• Stockpile Black Forest Cake during the week and sell to the Merchant Ship on Monday for 868 coins each (200% markup). This is one of the best ways to profit from surplus Flour and Honey.

• Place your Beehives near crop fields for the pollination bonus, which speeds up Wheat and Sugarcane growth. This creates a positive feedback loop: faster crops mean more Flour and Sugar, and the bees produce the Honey you need.

• Wheat grows in all four seasons, so Flour production never stops. Sugarcane is also an all-season crop. The only seasonal consideration is making sure your cows and bees are well-maintained year-round.