Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes (Copycat)

6 Servings
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream!

Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream! A Cheesecake Factory favorite brought into your own kitchen.Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are a huge hit with our family every time we go to the Cheesecake Factory, especially when we are out in groups and everyone needs a safe “chain” option as I believe it is one of the better ones out there. It also has the largest menu I have ever seen so you can be sure everyone will be happy.

Keeping that in mind, I always order the EXACT same thing every time I go because if there is anything you will learn about me, it is that once I find a favorite you can be sure I order it every time. Are you wondering how I try new flavors out or find new favorites then? Easy. My dear, loving husband is the opposite of me when it comes to dining out. He wants new things each time, which means I get to enjoy my favorite dish AND try out something new every time we go. I call that a total win in my book! So what do I order every time I go? Easy. First I eat far too much of the squaw bread for my trainer’s liking, then I order these delicious Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes! Follow it up with Spicy Cashew Chicken (and I usually ask for extra sauce on the side because I am a saucy sort of gal 😉 ) and I will be honest I never finish any of my plates  and I almost never order dessert.

The thing about the Cheesecake Factory is the portions are basically caveman size. Just these Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes would be more than a meal for me, so I always shoot for about ⅓ of my plate. Then I can make it to the next course. Since I love these dishes so much, I usually end up about eating about half of each and I am too full for dessert. The one dessert I do remember enjoying from their is the strawberry shortcake though! Wait, no cheesecake you say in disbelief? Yes, no cheesecake.

Look I have just consumed probably 4000 calories… where on earth is that cheesecake supposed to go? There was an episode of The Chew recently where Michael and Daphne were making competing recipes and his dish was the more indulgent version of hers and he was saying to rub butter on the thighs and Daphne joked that he may as well have been adding the fat to his thighs. That it what I think of when it comes to ordering a cheesecake there, haha. I may just add it straight to my problem areas! That being said, sometimes my husband will order a slice, and later that night at home I may sneak a bite (or 2)!

My biggest tip when it comes to these Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes is PUT YOUR KNIFE AWAY! Aside from slicing the avocado and chopping some cilantro let your food processor do all the work. Look at the pictures, my salsas are all dump and process. It is as quick as assemble ingredients, empty bowl. Rinse bowl (don’t even bother soaping it up here we aren’t including oils and all of this is getting eaten together anyway!) and move on to the next step. I had all of it done, including assembling/washing the ingredients in 20 minutes. I listed it as 40 if you take your time and chop things, but realistically I started cooking this at about 12:00 pm right when The Chew started and it was 12:42 as I sat down to enjoy my Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes as Michael and Clinton yelled at each other in Clinton’s Craft Corner (jazz hands!). It doesn’t have to take 1+ hour if you use your kitchen tools to do the work for you. 🙂

Make the salsa verde by putting the tomatillos, mild green chilies, green onion, 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, 1 ¼ teaspoons granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon ground cumin, ¼ teaspoon salt and 1 pinch ground black pepper in a food processor for 5-10 seconds. Put in the refrigerator to chill. Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream! A Cheesecake Factory favorite brought into your own kitchen. To make the tomato salsa put the tomatoes, diced onion, 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, ¼ teaspoon lime juice, ½ small jalapeno, 1 dash salt and 1 dash ground black pepper in a food processor for 5-10 seconds. Put in the refrigerator to chill. Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream! A Cheesecake Factory favorite brought into your own kitchen.To make the southwestern sauce, put ½ cup mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon white vinegar, 1 teaspoon water, ¾ teaspoon granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon chili powder, ¼ teaspoon paprika, 1 pinch cayenne pepper, 1 pinch onion powder, 1 dash salt and 1 dash garlic powder in a small bowl and mix. To Make the Tamale Cakes, put 1 cup of the frozen corn with the butter, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream! A Cheesecake Factory favorite brought into your own kitchen.Blend well. Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream! A Cheesecake Factory favorite brought into your own kitchen.Move the ingredients to a bowl. Add the corn flour, remaining corn and all purpose flour and blend well. Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream! A Cheesecake Factory favorite brought into your own kitchen.Measure ¼ cup portions of the mixture and form it into patties with your hands. Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil to a pan and heat onto medium high. Cook the patties for 3-5 minutes or until browned, flip and continue to cook until browned. Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream! A Cheesecake Factory favorite brought into your own kitchen.To assemble, Place all the Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes on a warmed serving platter. Add a spoonful of the salsa verde and pico de gallo salsa. Garnish with diced avocado, the southwestern sauce, cilantro and a dollop of sour cream. Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream! A Cheesecake Factory favorite brought into your own kitchen. Enjoy your Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes! You’ve earned it! Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream! A Cheesecake Factory favorite brought into your own kitchen.

Pin this recipe now to remember it later

Pin Recipe

Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes (Copycat)

Tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocadoes, cilantro and sour cream! A true Cheesecake Factory Favorite brought into your own kitchen!! Easy to make and really fast with a food processor!
Yield 6 Servings
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Mexican
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

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:

  • 2 medium tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon minced 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

Tamale Corn Cakes:

  • 1 1/2 cups sweet corn
  • 1/2 cup butter , softened
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup corn masa harina flour (corn flour)
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Toppings:

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

Instructions

  • Make the salsa verde by putting the tomatillos, mild green chilies, green onion, 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, 1 ¼ teaspoons granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon ground cumin, ¼ teaspoon salt and 1 pinch ground black pepper in a food processor for 5-10 seconds. Put in the refrigerator to chill.
  • To make the tomato salsa put the tomatoes, diced onion, 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, ¼ teaspoon lime juice, ½ small jalapeno, 1 dash salt and 1 dash ground black pepper in a food processor for 5-10 seconds. Put in the refrigerator to chill.
  • To make the southwestern sauce, put ½ cup mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon white vinegar, 1 teaspoon water, ¾ teaspoon granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon chili powder, ¼ teaspoon paprika, 1 pinch cayenne pepper, 1 pinch onion powder, 1 dash salt and 1 dash garlic powder in a small bowl and mix.
  • To Make the Tamale Cakes, put 1 cup of the frozen corn with the butter, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Blend well. Move the ingredients to a bowl. Add the corn flour, remaining corn and all purpose flour and blend well.
  • Measure ¼ cup portions of the mixture and form it into patties with your hands. Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil to a pan and heat onto medium high. Cook the patties for 3-5 minutes or until browned, flip and continue to cook until browned.
  • To assemble, Place all the cakes on a warmed serving platter. Add a spoonful of the salsa verde and pico de gallo salsa. Garnish with diced avocado, the southwestern sauce, cilantro and a dollop of sour cream.
  • Enjoy! You've earned it!

Notes

Recipe adapted from Todd Wilbur.

Nutrition

Calories: 439kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 53mg | Sodium: 429mg | Potassium: 331mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 1235IU | Vitamin C: 14.8mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 0.8mg
Keyword: Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes (Copycat), Cheesecake Factory recipes, copycat recipes, corn cakes

Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream! A Cheesecake Factory favorite brought into your own kitchen.

 

Tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocadoes, cilantro and sour cream! A true Cheesecake Factory Favorite brought into your own kitchen!! Easy to make and really fast with a food processor!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the upcoming cookbook: Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients which is being published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

Categories

Leave a comment & rating

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. I now see my mistake. May I suggest this [edit] to point #4 suggested edits in brackets.

    To Make the Tamale Cakes, put 1 cup [(reserving 1/2c)]of the [thawed] frozen corn with the butter, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Blend well. Move the ingredients to a bowl. Add the corn flour, remaining corn and all purpose flour and blend well.

  2. This might be an error, or I might be missing something. The recipe states one and a half cups of corn for the cakes but the instructions refer to one cup of corn. Can you clarify, or correct?

    1. Hi! “1 cup of the frozen corn with the butter, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Blend well. Move the ingredients to a bowl. Add the corn flour, remaining corn and all purpose flour and blend well.” Just to clarify, “the remaining corn” is the remaining half cup. Sorry for any confusion!

  3. Just about to make this recipe.
    I would find two more bits of information very helpful.
    -Number of cakes per serving and
    -Weight of tomatillos.

    While it says six servings (and your slider to change serving number is a nice feature) it doesn’t tell us how many cakes are in a serving. I would like to serve my guests two cakes each. Until I make the recipe I won’t know what the volume of the total recipe is. This makes it hard for me to shop for an appropriate amount of ingredients.

    I’m afraid the tomatillos I purchased might be too small. So if tomatillos come in different sizes, it would be nice to know how many grams should go in each recipe.

    Thank you for your efforts.

  4. LOVE these
    When I put the cold corn into the softened butter it just makes the butter hard again. I am doing something wrong? Also, do you think these could be frozen before frying?

    1. I am just seeing this tonight. I am sure the recipe has long been cooked/or not but I still want to try to help.

      Yes you could freeze before frying, and if the corn is that cold I would microwave on half power until it is just at room temperature, that for sure could mess with the recipe.

  5. Delicious! Tastes just like the restaurants! I haven’t been there in years but always loved these cakes. I put the corn mixture in the refrigerator since we weren’t ready to eat them and they were fine. It just was hard to use a stick of butter!! I used fresh corn that I cut off the cob and measured 1 1/2 cups. The sauces were great. Thanks for posting this.

  6. The recipe is written oddly. Why are we told to do all this chopping/dicing/mincing items before sticking them into a food processor that is going to puree them into a sauce? You even show sticking them whole in the pictures and you say in the big written preamble that we don’t need to use our knife, but the actual recipe list tells to do all this prep. Most people are going to follow the short recipe so why does it have unused prep steps? Also, in the pictures of the finished item, the tomatoes are still fairly chunky so we wouldn’t want to puree the tomato salsa into liquid, but we are told to puree it in the food processor for the same amount of time as the green sauce which would turn it into juice instead of chunks. I’m kinda winging the recipe steps based on the look of the finished item.

  7. Okay I was way confused with how you make the cakes. You say to blend together the tamale cakes then you say move to a bowl. Then you say put in the remaining corn and flour blah blah and blend well. Then you don’t say what your supposed to do with these two separate bowls of ingredients. I keep thinking in my mind I have this in the food processor and this in a bowl then it says to fry the mixture but I have this extra stuff that it doesn’t say what I’m supposed to do with. Now for thinking for five minutes I’m assuming you mix up the first stuff in the processor then move to a bowl then blend the second batch of corn and then mix all that together THEN fry them? It doesn’t say that to do and I want to make these so bad!

    1. You’ll move the ingredients from the food processor to a bowl and then add the other ingredients. Out of that bowl, you’ll measure 1/4 cup portions for the crab cakes. I hope this clears things up for you. Enjoy!!

    2. When I read those steps, I think you blend (in the food processor) the first part. Then put the stuff into a bowl and add the rest of the stuff to the bowl so you are ‘blending’ the second part in with a spoon rather than blending with the processor.

  8. I made it, it’s great, tastes just like in the restaurant. Only problem was to make the patties, to keep the dough together… Any suggestions.

    1. They are very delicate to work with in the beginning but you can try and press a little firmer to make the patties. Once you place them in the pan, try to get a good sear before turning them over gently. I’m so glad you enjoyed them though! Definitely worth the effort!!

  9. I love these from the Cheesecake Factory! I am def going to try these! What is a serving size in your recipe 1 cake? I just want to know how many cakes I would get for the one recipe for my family … since none of us would eat just one ?

    1. This recipe yields 6 servings. 🙂 In the recipe card, I have a new feature that allows you to adjust the servings using a slider so if you think you’ll need more, just slide to the right! Enjoy!

      1. Maybe that’s what went wrong. It does not say to thaw the corn in the recipe. The butter melts and combines with the oil and they never would cook all the way through.

  10. I love Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes so I was so excited to try this.  The cake didn’t form very well, very dry consistency.  No egg?  Help!

    1. I’m not sure what would’ve gone wrong. Feel free to email me at contact @ dinnerthendessert.com and we can try and troubleshoot.

  11. OMG.
    I order the very same two items at Cheese Cake Factory. Always say I WILL TRY SOMETHING different but never do. Thanks for the recipes, will make them.

  12. Hello,
    I’ve eaten these time and again at the cheesecake factory and I’d love to make these for the upcoming holiday. We will be traveling to my sister in law about 3 hours away. Do you think these would travel well? If yes, how would you suggest I pack them? Cooked, chilled and rewarm .in the oven when we get there?
    I’d love to surprise the family with these being one of the appetizers we are supposed to bring.

    Thanks!

  13. I just had these corn cakes at Cheesecake Factory and thought they were wonderful so I went looking for the recipe. I came across yours and I can’t wait to try making them. You have some great tricks and tips for making them fast and easy to cook. I’m also happy that you can add more of you favorite “stuff” if you make your own rather than ordering in a restaurant (pile on the avocados and fresh tomatoes for me!). It’s also nice that the recipe can be adjusted for a healthier version byleaving out the mayo, using less butter, and maybe even baking the corn cakes, it is swim suit season after all! So glad I found your recipe!

  14. Thanks so much for this recipe! We tried it last night and loved it; the sauces are amazing! One question- should I use 1/2 cup of butter or 1/2 stick of butter? The pictures are so helpful, and it looks like 1/2 stick rather than 1/2 cup to me. Just want to get it right, as we will be making them again!

  15. Corn cakes are the only thing I eat at Cheesecake Factory other than the cheesecakes. Thank you for sharing the recipe. I am glad I can now make them at home.

  16. Wow! I can’t believe how easy this is – and SO many flavors. I’ve never had the Cheesecake Factory version, but I bet this is SO YUMMY. Thanks for sharing!!

    1. Aww thanks Trish! PS, my husband was reading a blog post of yours I had open and he said he thinks you and I have a similar writing style 😉

  17. These corn cakes look absolutely amazing! I’m sure they’re better than Cheesecake Factory’s!

  18. oh these are delicious, so good that you went ahead and recreated this recipe, many thanks and I will sure make it 🙂