Why This Recipe Works
Dense, moist banana bread is great. But tender, fluffy banana snack cake is something else again. And while we were working on transformations, we wanted to give our cake an interesting new flavor profile. Banana and peanut butter is a classic combo, but for this cake we decided to get nutty flavor from sesame tahini.To give our cake a light structure, we creamed softened butter and sugar, which incorporated air into the batter. Adding the tahini at this time (and cutting back on the butter to accommodate for the tahini’s fat content) proved to be the best approach; this ensured it was fully incorporated and didn’t make the cake greasy. Ripe bananas have nearly three times as much sugar as unripe bananas and were the best choice here; just two or three (depending on the size) yielded a cup of mashed banana, which was just the right amount for a moist cake with unmistakable banana flavor. A final sprinkling of sesame seeds was a playful addition that hinted at the tahini inside.
