Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes

  
Every time hubby & I go to The Cheesecake Factory we order the Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes as an appetizer. They are delicious and I had to find the recipe to make them at home. A quick internet search produced a similar sounding recipe on recipezarr.com. Tonight was the night to try them out and they are G-O-O-D!

Last night I quickly whipped up the sauces in the food processor (very few dishes to clean) and tonight I made the corn cakes after work. They were met with rave reviews from hubby and the in-laws. While they don’t taste exactly like the ones we get at the restaurant, they are a very good substitute and much friendlier on our wallet.

Here is the recipe if you care to make your own. It looks like more work and ingredients than it really is…you probably have most of them on hand already.

SWEET CORN TAMALE CAKES (Cheesecake Factory copycat)
Serves: 4

Salsa Verde
2 tomatillos, sliced
4 oz. can diced mild green chilies, drained
1 green onion, chopped
2 T fresh cilantro, minced
1 1/4 t sugar
1/4 t ground cumin
1/4 t salt
1 pinch ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients together in food processor or blender and chill.

Tomato Salsa
1 medium tomato, sliced
1 T minced onion
1 T fresh cilantro, minced
1/4 t lime juice
1/2 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 dash salt
1 dash ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients together in food processor or blender and chill.

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

Mix all ingredients together and chill.

Corn Cakes
1 1/2 cups frozen sweet corn (slightly thawed)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3 T sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup corn meal/flour
2 T all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coarsely puree 1 cup of corn in food processor. Add softened butter, sugar and salt. Blend well. Add corn meal and flour and blend well. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup corn. Scoop about 1/2 cup of mixture and form it into a patty and place on greased cookie sheet. Continue until you’ve used all the dough (I got about 4 patties with a little left over). Bake for 25 minutes or until the bottoms start to brown. Flip the cakes and cook for another 5 minutes or until browned (note: they will spread a lot in the oven so don’t place them too close together).

Garnish & Assembly
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 avocado, diced (we used 2/3 because we love avocado)
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped (I forgot this)
Salsa Verde (from above)
Tomato Salsa (from above)
Southwestern Sauce (from above)

Place some salsa verde on a plate. Top with one of the corn cakes. Spread sour cream on top of the cake. Top with diced avocado and tomato salsa. Drizzle southwestern sauce on top and garnish with cilantro. Enjoy!