Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes are tender, buttery corn cakes topped with tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, southwestern sauce, avocados, cilantro and sour cream!
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 1/3 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 1/4 teaspoons granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 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, 1/4 teaspoon lime juice, 1/2 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. 
Blend well. 
Move the ingredients to a bowl. Add the corn flour, remaining corn and all purpose flour and blend well. 
Measure 1/4 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 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. 
Enjoy your Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes! You’ve earned it! 
Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes (Copycat)
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 1/4 teaspoons granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 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, 1/4 teaspoon lime juice, 1/2 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 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 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 1/4 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!
Recipe Notes
Recipe adapted from Todd Wilbur.
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.
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.
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!
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!!
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.
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.
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!!
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 ?
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!
Question – do you use the corn frozen or do you thaw it first?
You’ll want to thaw it first. Sorry for the confusion!
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.
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!
I’m not sure what would’ve gone wrong. Feel free to email me at contact @ dev.dinnerthendessert.com and we can try and troubleshoot.
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.
It’s so hard to stray from what you know is soooo good!
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!
No, unfortunately these won’t travel well at all. They’ll get mushy 🙁
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!
I hope you enjoy them! Please come back and let me know how they turned out!
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!
That’s actually a whole stick which is the equivalent of a 1/2 cup. 🙂
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.
I definitely want to give this recipe a try!! They sound so perfect for fall!
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!!
Sabrina YUM! These look so delicious! I want to reach in and grab one!
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 😉
Cheesecake Factory Ain’t got nothing on these beauties ! yummyliciousness !
Aww how sweet! Thanks!
These look scrumptious! never had them at the cheesecake factory but I have to make them now!
These corn cakes look absolutely amazing! I’m sure they’re better than Cheesecake Factory’s!
my new must do, can’t wait!
Yum! They look so very tasty! Now I’m hungry again!
I’ve never been to Cheesecake Factory but these looks delicious. Lovely pictures too!
I love corn cakes and these look absolutely delicious!!
oh these are delicious, so good that you went ahead and recreated this recipe, many thanks and I will sure make it 🙂
Awesome! I hope you love it!
Hooray for copycat recipes! This looks delicious!
Thanks Tracy!
I’m all over that food processor, it’s one of my favorite kitchen tools. These corn cakes look fabulous
Yes! I love it! I have 4 (crazy I know) and I use that one 95% of the time unless I need a smaller one.
I love corncakes… these are especially beautiful – your images are fantastic.
These sound simply heavenly. I don’t go to Cheesecake Factory but these are so simple to make at home.
These look so delicious and you make it look so easy! I can’t wait to try these soon!
OMG these are mouthwatering! I love all of the flavour combos going on here! Beautiful photos!
I love this sort of fresh tasting bite of delicious flavor.
I love how you walked through every step, it’s very easy to follow. I love your photography it’s so clean and the recipe is so yummy looking!
Thanks Sara!
Ok, I should not have viewed this post at 9am. Now, all I can think of is corn cakes for breakfast! Is that wrong? Haha! These look incredible!
These corn cakes look amazing! Pinning for later! Yum!
These corn cakes look so yum! I love anything corn based, so I know I am going to love them!
I haven’t been to Cheesecake factory in forever but we used to get these. Can’t wait to try the recipe! On a side note, I probably watch a little to much reality tv too 🙂
These look so delicious that I can’t wait to make it. Love the salsas with it!
These look so delicious can’t wait to try them.
We just had food at cheesecake factory today and seeing these corn cakes makes me so wanna eat again. Never know they were this simple to make. Great recipe.
Wow! I wish I could eat these now!
Me too!
My big secret is that I HATE corn, but we have so much of it down here that I’m always looking for ways to cook it that I’ll actually enjoy. These corn cakes would not be more up my alley!!
Maybe all the salsa and sour cream will drown out the corn-y nature of it enough! Ha!
Bravo on a wonderful replication of this delicious treat; your photos are stunning!
Thanks!
Sabrina, awesome! Looks for good. And awesome pics too!
Thanks Derek!
We don’t have a Cheesecake Factory here 🙁
I guess I will have to make these to bring CCF to me. Huzzah!
Haha! That is awesome!
I love that you blended some of the corn and left some of it whole. I definitely want to try these!! Go #foodiemamas!! 😉
Yay! I love our little group!
Wow – I’ve never tried these before but they look really, really good! What’s not to love with these summery ingredients?
Thanks Erin!
While I have never had these anywhere before, I love the way they look and would love to try them. They look great and the pics are really nice too!
Thanks Chris! I loved how colorful and bright they were too 🙂
I LOVE corn cakes! This recipe looks perfect, pinning it 🙂
Awesome! Thanks for the pin Renee!
Sabrina, you’re a star! These look fantastic – can I have some please?
Aww how sweet! Thanks Sarah! Come on over! 😉
these look so darn tasty! Im sure they are better than the cheesecake factory version!
Aww thanks Rachel! I like them better 😉
the colors of this meal is shouting make me… love it
Thanks!
I absolutely love the Corn Cakes from Cheesecake Factory. This is such an easy copy cat recipe. I cannot wait to give it a try.
Awesome!!
Your corn cakes look fabulous! I was just curious u used frozen corn was there a reason, right now we have fresh corn coming out our ears could you use fresh corn too? Beautiful pictures too!
Nope, I just had some on hand that was really sweet and I had bought some fresh corn but somehow it smelled off so I ended up tossing 10 ears of it! If you have some nice fresh corn (that doesn’t smell off) by all means use that instead! Fresh is always better!
I always leave your blog feeling hungry. The corn cakes look so pretty and I’m sure they taste as good as they look.
That makes me so happy to hear! I must be doing something right! Thanks 🙂
I have never eaten at the Cheesecake Factory before! These sound like they would be delicious to eat, I love copy cat recipes!
It is a lot of fun, they have a huge menu!
Wowzer! These look so yummy! I love a good copycat recipe!
Thanks Aimee!
Can you believe that I have never been to Cheesecake Factory. I need to try your creation. 🙂
Woah! I thought everyone had been to one, I feel like every mall I’ve been to has one, haha.
I have never had one of these before. They look fabulous though.
Thanks Aubrey!
Salted Caramel Popcorn looks so delicious. I will have to make some for our next movie night.
Her recipe is great! I hope you love it!
I have never tried Corn Cakes before. They look so delicious. I will have to get my kids to help me make the recipe. I am teaching them how to cook.
Thanks Ann! I hope you all love it!
These Corn Cakes look so amazing. I will have to give the recipe a try. I love making copy cat recipes.
Thanks Elizabeth!
I haven’t seen how big the portions are at the Cheesecake Factory lol! I have to say those avocados look so good on these corn cakes.
Oh they are huge. I think the plates count as platters in most homes, haha.
OH MY GOSH, those look so good. I can’t say I’ve had this dish at TCF before, but who cares, I want this one.
Thanks Michelle! It is easy to miss a dish there, I think the menu is 20 pages long!
Damn you, Sabrina! I always see your emails and think, “Oh I’ve never had that before, totally don’t need to make it”, and then I click on the link and by the second paragraph I’m totally hooked! Saved another of your recipes to my Paprika to make soon… 🙂
Yay! Mission accomplished! haha.
Oh my goodness, these sound amazing. I haven’t tried them at The Cheesecake Factory, but I want yours 🙂 LOL..
I take that as a huge compliment! Thanks Shauna!
Oh yum, I love corn cakes, these look amazing!
Thanks Joy!
I have never had the restaurant version but your beautiful photos sold me! I can’t wait to give this a try. Thanks!
Thanks Mirlanda! I hope you love them!
I’m the same way when it comes to restaurants. Once I find a dish I like, I have to order it every time! This one looks amazing!
Yup! Who can risk trying something new and not being as happy, haha.
Oh my gosh, these look SO good. I am a sucker for any Cheesecake Factory copycat dishes.
Me too! I have a few of them up my sleeve!
I’ve never had corn cakes before but these look absolutely amazing! I’m definitely going to have to try these soon!
Paige
Thanks Paige! I hope you love them!
I just ate at the Cheesecake Factory the other day! I had a burger and nachos with my mom. These look way too good for their own good!
Oooh nachos! I have never tried their nachos but I bet they are amazing!
I’m quite literally giddy over this! I LOVE these things! Now I can make them myself 😉
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that!
Those look so yummy! I love anything corn based, and I’m always excited to try a new copycat recipe.
Thanks Jennifer! I definitely love recreating my favorite restaurant dishes, it is a fun game I play anytime I find a new one I love.
That looks absolutely incredible! You have me eating my screen. My family would eat these up the second I would take them out of the pan. We might have to try this one soon.
Thanks Jeanette!
Looks delicious, love the colors and the pictures! Another hit at dinner then dessert, well done!
Haha, thanks Florian!