Best Bananas

A reader has asked: I recently made a banana cake and it was tasteless. Do you think the bananas I used weren’t flavorful enough?

A: To impart a good flavor to a cake batter, bananas must be very ripe—somewhat soft with the skin evenly dotted with small black spots. Also, I’ve found that it’s better to mash the bananas than puree them. The slight chunkiness of the mashed bananas is more flavorful.