Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes the Cheesecake Factory Copycat

I worked at Cheesecake Factory a few years ago and this was my favorite item on the menu. I looked up the recipe one day (the cooks let me) and this is the EXACT recipe. I only prepare the corncakes and the red salsa (and top with avocado and sour cream), omitting the salsa verde and southwestern sauce--still excellent and much less work!! The way they cook it is on a skillet, NOT in the oven. Just cook on low-med heat like you would pancakes until very golden brown. YUM.

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These are delicious! I cut the butter in half. This made the batter thicker. I used a small Pampered Chef scoop and made balls instead of 3 inch patties. I baked them for 15 minutes. The recipe yielded about 20 cakes. This was nice because they were less fattening and the batter went further.

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I was very pleased to discover that these taste just as good as the ones at The Cheesecake Factory! I have made them several times now and everyone always loves them. However, I agree with a previous review, you have to eat these right away b/c they don't taste as good when they are cold. I only make the southwestern salsa and the green salsa. I have never made the red one but the other two are great! Make this recipe... you won't be disappointed.

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I made this about a year ago and decided to look it up and make it again for some food photography. The sweet cake and spices are great. The sauces are surprisingly mild, but then I cut the jalepeno to not use the tip or white parts inside. The last time I tried store bought salsa verde to save time, but this time I made the recipe and was much much improved. We have found that you must serve the cakes piping hot. If they start to cool down (which happens on a cool plate in cool sauces), the cake loses its punch. The hot/cool is about as important as the sweet/spicy, creamy crunchy. Instead of 4 cakes, I make 6 smaller cakes and there is still too much southwestern sauce and salsa verde. You could easily double the cake and tomato salsa portions to get 8. Make 50% more salsa verde for 12 cakes. I hadn't seen the review to do it on the stove, and it didn't brown up enough on parchment paper, so the pictures I posted w/ black specs is from a blowtorch to get color/crunch.

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Wonderful! Made exactly per your recipe with all three salsas. Thank you for posting.

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Spectacular! I cut the butter down to 1/4 cup and added a 1/4 cup milk. Both salsas and the sauce are well worth the effort to make and actually don't take much time at all. Based on other reviews I used a 1" scoop to shape the cakes and then flattened them with a floured fork. I pan fried them and it worked great but it might be easier to bake them as directed in the recipe. Next time I will thaw the corn first to make it easier to puree. I know I will make this many times!

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I can only give credit for the actual cake as I ate these with store bought salsa... they are amazing and sweet and a perfect fill me up meal! Thanks!

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Great appetizer. I made half a recipe for the two of us and got 4 cakes but did have to add milk as they were very dry. I cooked them on a griddle on the stove top and I used canned salsa verde for the topping. Will be trying the different sauces soon.

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I've never been to a Cheesecake Factory, but I had to try based on the reviews. The flavor of these is out of this world. I'm only giving 4 stars now, because I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Mine always flatten out and are burned on the edges. Its not staying in a cake form. But, with that said, they are still very very good! We've never tried Salsa Verde before but it now has new fans with my family! Each of us liked a different salsa the best. Mine was the southwest. This goes great with Cilantro Chicken

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I made this for lunch today for my mom and she LOVED it. She said it was better than the Cheesecake Factory's. It was amazing.

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I just tried the actual corn cakes. They are pretty good. I will make them again. The bottoms browned faster in the oven than expected. Next time I'll watched them between 20 & 25 min before turning them. I would bake them like the recipe suggests. I couldn't imagine pan frying them on top of all the butter in this recipe. I baked them and they had the perfect crispiness.

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These were awesome I'm so thankful! I found it funny that my daughter didn't like them because they taste exactly like the ones at Cheesecake Factory and she loves those. I think it may have been due to the fact that I fried them in butter and it got a bit crispier than she's use to. Next time I'll do the baking method that you mentioned or brown it slightly then bake it, didn't think it would give me that little bit of crispness I wanted if I baked only so did it on the stove but it was a bit crispier than normal....or I'll just be sure to take them out sooner if I do this method again. So happy I can make these now and save some $$...oh and I did the cakes only not the toppings I'll save that for a special day when company is over or something.

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I only made the corn cakes and the regular salsa because there was something else I was making to go with them, but both were great. I doubled the recipe and cooked them up on the stove. They turned out really well!

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I made just the cakes exactly as written. I didn't make any of the toppings; I served them with homemade chili. The little crisp & sweetness of them was perfect with the chili.

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These are great. We did the more pancake shape and suggested time was right on. They were a great appetizer with just some salsa but hubby wants to try them with a little honey on them next time. Quick, easy & delicious. Thanks for a great recipe!

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Every time I make these for a party they are a hit and always disappear very quickly. These are delicious!

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Yummy! These taste identical to the cakes at the Cheesecake Factory. We can just make these now instead of going there and it saves us a lot of money.

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Very yummy!!! We've made this many times. In fact, we've passed the recipe along to our friends. We have a flat cast iron pan, and we cook these on it in the oven. They crisp up very nicely. The sauces are yummy too.

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These tasted exactly like the cakes at the cheesecake factory. I changed the measurements to serve 32 and I used someone else's suggestion of making little balls with the Pampered Chef cookie dough scoop. I packed them pretty tight in the scoop and found that if they are left in balls, 19 minutes was just about right. Those that I pressed into cakes cooked faster but I had to be really careful to watch that they didn't burn so I ended up making mostly balls. I'm at a high altitude so that might have factored in the time. I only made the southwestern sauce, not any salsas but the sauce was a big hit. The entire tray of over 48 cakes were cleared out by 15 people within 7 minutes. Everyone loved them. This recipe is perfect and I will make them again.

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Just like the cheese cake factory. Tastes so good I'm making them again tonight. I should of doubled the recipie. I did use a can of diced tomatoes and green chilies to cut the prep time for the salsa. again so good. and easy to make.

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