The first time, I fried. This time, I baked, and finished off under the broiler as suggested. I added melted butter before baking and this gave me a perfectly acceptable, crispy, tasty crust. Also, it allowed me to just put them in the oven on a timer, come back in 12 minutes, switch to broiler mode for a few more, and done. Not that frying takes any great effort, but you do have to monitor something frying a bit more, and there’s more clean-up. All in all, I’ll probably bake at home, but if I have an option at a restaurant, I’d ask for fried.
What is this nonsense I’m seeing in here? You broil crabcakes unless you’re from someplace like Dundalk.
Broiled is the correct answer! Frying is too overbearing for the delicate flavor of crab meat.
Or you can devil them and enjoy them cold. 
Broiled is definitely the way to go. Fry them if you’re not sure of your crabcake making abilities - a little grease can hide a multitude of sins. And please tell me you used real crab, blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, the crab that put the “pleasant” in The Land of Pleasant Living, and the “peak” in Chesapeake.
Since I left Maryland my crabs come from Trinity and Galveston Bays, so I don’t have to buy them. They’re the same crabs - they just have a nicer accent.
You insult me. 
Sorry, but I wasn’t taking any chances. We already had one philistine suggest dungeness crabs;)
I’ll have what they’re having.
As much as I never want to go back to Baltimore, I miss real crab cakes. It’s hard to find even decent crab meat when you are a thousand miles or more from the Bay.
Nightshadea, were they Phillip’s brand? Because those were the only frozen crab cakes I have ever had that were close to right. Every other box of frozen “Maryland style” crab cakes is a fraud.
The poll really did need YES as a choice.
I hadn’t realized that crab cakes could be baked.
While on coastal Virginia earlier this summer, I was struck by the primitive nature of crabbing by hand. You tie some bait to a line and sink it in the water. When you feel tugs, pull it up and the crabs are too dumb/busy eating the bait to let go. Net the crab and avoid the claws. Very entertaining and we didn’t even keep any to eat. The daily limit of legal size is an enormous one bushel. which represents hundreds of individuals.
Dungeness is the only crab worth eating, and it really isn’t worth the effort. Atlantic crab can just stay there, and the less we say about King crab and the people who go nuts over them, the better.
Yeah, I’m that guy.
Snow crab FTW! Then again I’m a Canadian flatlander so what do I know…
And at least 1400km from saltwater.
Crab involved, just feed me!
No butter or sauce needed, but would be appreciated.
I’m sorry, the answer we’re looking for is blue crab. Blue crab.
Thank you for playing.