The story
Various theories have been proposed: * Named after the Kirschwasser flavouring that originated in the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany. * The black chocolate rasps topping resembles a black forest, like the Black Forest. * A potential predecessor of this cake named Schwarzwaldtorte could have been originated in Switzerland and not in the Black Forest region. * Inspired by the traditional costume of the women of the Black Forest region, with a characteristic hat with big, red pom-poms on top, called Bollenhut.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.