Is there such a thing as a FLUFFY banana cake? - Page 2

Vgcea, 

The best banana flavor comes from black, over ripe bananas because the sugar and flavor is naturally developed and the pH is the lowest - so it does not effect your leavening.  Yellow or slightly green bananas have a high pH, low flavor and low sugar.  But if you pop yellow or slightly green bananas in the oven to roast, you are forcing the pH down, developing the sugars and essentially speed ripening them by caramelizing them in the skin.  You will not get the same results if you take them out of the skin and try and cook them either in the oven or on the stove.  Same goes if you want to use fresh pumpkin, sweet potato, yams or other gourds and fruits to make a cake.  Always roast them in their natural state.

I have had GREAT success converting my regular yellow cake recipe to a banana cake - I just swap out 1/2 my buttermilk for mashed ripe bananas.  I reverse cream, and because I've lowered the pH by roasting or use bananas that are over-ripe, the pH in the banana is about the same as my buttermilk  - so I don't have to alter my leavening.  It has the texture of a fluffy cake with a tight crumb, smooth mouthfeel, and is especially tasty with some mini chocolate chips thrown in topped with Nutella SMBC.

The buttermilk is still necessary for emulsion and for tenderness, if you use too much banana you will get a heavy muffin or bread texture.

Good luck!

I make this one:  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Banana-Upside-Down-Cake-2516 and just omit the first step of the caramelized bananas.  It is very fluffy and not at all like a banana bread texture.

I definitely don't puree mine. I mash them up with fork only. And the cake recipe I add them to does not contain egg yolks, it's a light airy white cake.