Copycat Recipe: The Cheesecake Factory’s Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes

The Cheesecake Factory is my favorite “nice” restaurant to eat at.  It’s pretty expensive, so we don’t go often, but when we do I always order the same thing – the Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes.  It’s on the appetizer menu, but I order it as my entrée, because they are so good.

I’ve considered trying a copycat recipe at home, but the ingredient list was daunting to me.  Now that the nearest Cheesecake Factory is thousands of miles away, I finally gave it a try.  It was great to have this delicious dish at home, for a much lower cost.  Even though I had to pay $4 for a jar of mayonnaise, it was still cheaper to make Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes at home.  I left out the Salsa Verde because I couldn’t find mild chilies or tomatillos, but I didn’t feel like it was missing anything.

Copycat Recipe: The Cheesecake Factory’s Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes

Ingredients for Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes

Salsa Verde
• 2 tomatillos, diced
• 4 ounces mild green chilies, drained and diced
• 1 green onion, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
• 1 1/4 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground black pepper

Tomato Salsa
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced Spanish onion
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/2 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 1 dash salt
• 1 dash ground black pepper

Southwestern Sauce
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon water
• 3/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 pinch onion powder
• 1 dash salt
• 1 dash garlic powder

Corn Tamale Cakes
• 1 1/2 cups frozen sweet corn
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup corn masa harina flour (corn flour) (in India, I found this labeled as maize flour)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Garnish
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 avocado, diced
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions for making Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes

1. Mix all ingredients for salsa verde and chill.
2. Mix all ingredients for tomato salsa and chill.
3. Mix all ingredients for Southwestern sauce and chill.
4. Chop 1 cup of the frozen corn in a food processor until coarsely pureed.  Mix with softened butter, sugar and salt.  Blend well.  Add masa and flour and blend well.  Mix in remaining 1/2 cup of corn.
5. Divide the dough into 3 parts and make 3″ wide patties with your hands.  Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until browned on the bottom.  Turn the cakes and bake an additional 5 minutes for the other side to brown.
6. Dress each corn cake with each of the three sauces.  Garnish with the avocado, cilantro and sour cream.