Black Star Pastry

Visited the shop two days in a row as their strawberry and watermelon cake is great! The rose scent blended perfectly with the watermelon and both the strawberries and watermelon were so juicy. I also tried the orange cake and handmade chai during my second visit. The Chai is very creamy while the orange cake is smooth with moist texture! I would definitely come again when i visit this city next time!

The place was quite a small place so that I saw quite a few people waiting for their order and a few people were just sitting outside. The watermelon strawberry cake which is the best seller in this place is not what I expect it to be. The taste was quite weak actually… I like the lemon cake though.

omg the strawberry watermelon cake was to die for!!! go early bc sometimes they do sell out. it is expensive for a small slice of cake, but trust me, it is worth every bite. somehow the water from the watermelon does not soak the cake. one of the best deserts i’ve had in a while.

After a light brunch a friend took me here for some sweets. Very lucky we didn’t wait in those long lines I had been hearing about.
Of course I had to try their watermelon and strawberry special :) what a beautiful dessert! I wasn’t expecting what I think was a layer of pavlova in it. The crème had a light floral aroma and the watermelon was a fresh respite from the heavier desserts I’ve had.
Thank you for this delicious cake Blackstar– because of you I can keep trucking myself that this is healthy for me!
Oh! For all those that don’t want to travel to Newtown they’ve just opened a café inside a bookshop in the CBD. Above Muji

There are some bloody good bakeries in Sydney, but Black Star has taken cakes and pastries to the next level. Worth queuing for.

the strawberry watermelon cake is phenomenal! never thought you could incorporate a piece of watermelon in there… super refreshing!

I tried their watermelon and strawberry cake at the noodle night market and I don’t understand the hype. It was pretty to look at, with the pink and white layers, but that’s about all it has going for it. The cream is very non-​descript in flavor and the watermelon just doesn’t do anything to help. Moreover, the strawberries are masked by their jellied coating. Sure, it’s creative that there is a watermelon layered cake, but this is poorly executed.

Recently, I finally went to Black Star Pastry for the first time. Naturally, I tried their famous watermelon and strawberry cake. (Luckily, we got there just before it ran out, but it was 4 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon.)
Whilst eating it, another lady nearby asked me a question. She had also had the watermelon and strawberry cake for the first time and wanted to know what I thought of it. After all, she had also heard high praise for it, and she was left somewhat disappointed.
I stopped to think. After all, the cake also hadn’t been quite what I was expecting. Rather than being rich, like most other cakes (and my preference), it was rather light. Certainly quite creamy, but mainly fruity. But I still liked it… Then, it occurred to me…
I told the lady it was like pavlova, that combination of fruit and creamy and sweetness, an excellent dessert to have on Christmas Day. And she agreed 100%! Not every cake needs to be rich and chocolately, other lighter cakes also have their place. Although, it would have been better suited to a summers day, and it was the middle of winter!
P. S. If you order tea, it comes in a strange thermos-​like contraption, that will puzzle you at first. I guess it works in case you don’t have a seat!

Quotes from my partner during our first visit of what will certainly be many: «This is the best brownie in Sydney (so far)… This may actually be the best brownie I’ve had in the world» and «This is the first time since we left America that I’ve had a mocha that isn’t sickeningly sweet.» (The only other place that we’ve lived in since then was Christchurch, New Zealand, and we never found good unsweetened mocha.) That’s a solid five stars.
Plus, the people working there were really nice despite the (well-​deserved) incredible crowd and queue.
(We ate the vegan brownie with popcorn on top and an unsweetened soy mocha. Next time: bread and coffee.)

So this is the pastry shop everyone raved about in Newtown. Judging by the crowd, this place must have been made popular by tourists and university students… The line moves reasonably fast and the kitchen staff is incredibly busy making cakes. If you are looking for personalized service from a small café, you will be disappointed because the servers are too busy for any kind of small talk. The cake is good. Very unusual flavor profile indeed. I don’t mind stopping here for a quite in-​and-​out bite but if I am looking for something more relaxing, I probably will go somewhere else.

One of the places in Sydney that i always miss when i am overseas. The watermelon cake and orange cakes are awesome. Very delicious and unique. They make good coffee too. Try to visit early morning, as in before 10:30, so you dont need to wait in the long line…

Another visit here shows that these guys have some great food offerings from the amazing Orange cake with Persian fig or their lush moist watermelon and strawberry cake.
Sadly their service overlooks you the person spending money, their ability to hear an order correctly, to the way in which they have numerous staff trying to cater for a busy time. Writing down drink orders in pen on the bench where they prepare coffee, works well for one or two but quickly gets lost in a dozen people.
Coffee arrives and you are left scourging for your own sugar as zombie tired like waitresses don’t notice there’s nothing at the table.
I’ve been twice now and had to wipe down my own table from previous patrons. When staff see this they don’t even seem to acknowledge the lack of service as they look right through you.
This leaves me asking why go back for a third time, well it’s 3 strikes and you are out. Good thing there’s plenty of other options in Rosebery.

Amazing cakes!!! Their drinks are good too!!! I live in the U.S. and I still think about their cakes. Wish we had a place like this here. I recommend this to anybody visiting Sydney!

You can never go wrong here! From their breads to their fruit loaf to their pies and sweet pastries, oh and did I mention their vegan desserts!!! Oh my oh my! I have tried it all and never been disappointed.
If you’re visiting a friend, do everyone a favour and buy a fruit loaf with some jam, you’ll be loved forever.
This is definitely a hipster place that you should go out of your way to visit at least 100 times before you die :)

Here’s a little hipster haven for a sweet afternoon treat.
It’s almost impossible to get a seat at Black Star and when you do you tend to have other people sitting on top of your so I recommend grabbing something to go and taking it up to Campo Park for a little picnic in the sun.
You’ll line up to get in and you’ll hardly fit into the shop but for the most part it’s worth the cram. Their beef pies can do no wrong but my absolute favourite sweet is their raspberry brulee tart. IT. IS. TO. DIE. FOR. It’s seriously good.
Treat yo’self!

The tiny shopfront is an organised chaos for the staff with a constant queue of customers at any time of day. For new customers, some might find it cosy, others a nightmare. Not all cakes are on display, so you can only get to see a small subset of cakes before being rushed to make a decision. Hopefully this post will give you a head start with just 6 of the cakes on offer.
How it works? when you get in, stay to the right until you get served then, move left to pay. It is these sort of unwritten rules that might affect your customer experience negatively. The other major negative point is the attitude of the staff. For a small business, they can be perceived to be arrogant and not customer-​oriented at all (just read the reviews on Urbanspoon — I experienced it first-​hand and see where those negative comments are coming from). They are lucky that the people doing the baking show more love for their work.
PEAR FRANGIPANI TART
Lovers of pear will love this one. The pear slice still had a good bite to them, the base was crumbly.
CHOCOLATE MACADEMIA BROWNIE
Chewiness texture of a brownie without being too hard even one day after. Just a brownie but one done very well.
CHOCOLATE TARTE
Crisp pastry, technically well done. The surprise is popping candy within the chocolate mixture.
RASPBERRY CREME BRULEE TART
The perfect crème brûlée from the outside. When you bite in it, the raspberry centre is revealed. The sourness and sweetness with the crunch of the pastry and crisp caramelised brulee is very good.
CHOCOLATE ECLAIR
Rich glossy chocolate finish, with chocolate flavours cream inside. The choux pastry was ok, pretty average with no crunch so it tasted like supermarket stock. To be fair, it was tasted at around 1pm so the pastry is pretty much dead I suspect.
STRAWBERRY WATERMELON CAKE with Rose Scented Cream
This cake is very photogenic and can be appreciated at any angle for different reasons. From the side, the care of assembly and thought process is amazing. The middle layer of fresh watermelon gave it the x factor, it also gave it a unique texture and also balanced with the richness of the cream whilst giving it the perfect dosage of sweetness. The sponge gave the cake body but is still light and melted when in the mouth also a carrier of that distinct rose flavour along with the cream.
From the top, it is very pretty. Ultra glossy strawberries, flowers and pistachio that just make you want to dig in.
This is the main attraction and arguably the only valid reason to queue up. The rest were very good technically with good flavours and twists. After the strawberry watermelon cake, my second favourite is the Pear Frangipani. The least good were the éclair and brownie. The average price is at around $ 8/​cake.
Conclusion
Mixed experiences at Black Star Pastry. Which is the best cake? that’s up to personal taste, just as all good pastry shops, technically Black Star is very good. The most famous is the strawberry watermelon cake, and is the only reason most customers would put up with the temperamental below average service and lack of seating. The rest of the cakes whilst good can be substituted but still worth a visit. Another small store victim of its own success, management really needs to address the issues and scale up.
@thesydneynoob

I’ve changed my mind.
After dealing with the masterminds behind Blackstar pastry for catering for a special event. I found them to have amazing customer service, attention to detail and are always willing to help you out no matter what your request.
They even arranged a cake tasting for us.
The café is still packed to the rafters every day, but if you get there before 10am you might be in with a chance at a seat.
Excellent reccomendation if you need a large special occasion cake like a wedding or birthday.
Try the Lemon Zen cake.

Quintessential Sydney.
Walk down fairly ordinary looking side street off of the main road in Newtown and nestled amongst a few teeny tiny shops you see a line up of people out the front of some other teeny tiny shop (at all times of the day).
The service is very Deus Machinas, and what I mean by that is that if you are not a tattooed, half shaved head, cool piercings looking chick then you receive the «you are damn privileged to be lining up in this line of hipsters» looks and attitude. But like those hipsters in the line I don’t give a shit.
All I’m here for is the food and the coffee. So Black Star Pastry you can have all the «you cannot sit and eat our food takeaway here» rules and ‘tude that you like because I am like a puppy that just wants its masters affection, and a meal.
Buck the trend and skip that watermelon strawberry cake stuff people are raving about and go straight for a vegan brownie with pop rocks and caramel popcorn or an orange semolina cake. Also go for a coffee and a savoury baguette (damn expensive but crispy Frenchy good).
And if you can nab a seat and don’t mind people glaring at you to move on once you’ve finished your food then do eat in and enjoy the people spotting!

Even when I was in the Newtown area all the time I sadly never made my way to Black Star as often as I should have (which, upon hindsight is not entirely a bad thing since I probably would have packed on the kilos really quickly…) and I confess I hadn’t been in years so I might have forgotten what all the fuss was about.
But absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Because oh, how fond my heart has become of Black Star! Especially their gorgeous, ridiculously delectable raspberry crème brûlée tart. Despite all of the other wonderfully presented cakes (the Strawberry and Watermelon cake, and also the Frangipani cake are like beautiful gardens in cake form) it caught my eye and all of a sudden I just knew it. I knew it had to be mine.
The pastry — perfect, crunchy, so so satisfying. The filling — The slight tartness of raspberries goes beautifully with the smoother than smooth crème brûlée… Let’s just say that sweet dreams are made of these (and since I’m writing this review at 3am, it’s probably time that I go off to have some sweet dreams!)
Am I going back to Black Star? Of course, because now that I’ve had another taste, I can’t resist anymore!

My favorite dessert shop! Whenever I have visitors, I always take them here! They love it (as do I.)
This is a tiny café across Newtown station. When I say tiny, I mean tiny — there aren’t «proper» chairs and tables, just some benches with tiny tables. It’s hard to get a seat during peak hours, though you may be able to squeeze in if you’re lucky!
The desserts… mmm the desserts! I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad one here. The strawberry watermelon cake is definitely a must-​try, though personally I’m more partial to the chocolate torte. The brownie is good, too. The macarons are yummyyyyy but I haven’t seen them in a while… (do they still make them?)
Given the limited space in the café, you may just want to do takeaway and enjoy the desserts at nearby Camperdown Memorial Park :)