Mini Crab Cakes with Crème Fraiche Horsey Sauce
We all want elevated apps and finger foods to bring to gatherings without spending countless hours working on them. Here I have created a quick little shortcut for the crab cake. I use a cup cake tin to shape and bake the crab cake instead of standing over the stove and frying them in batches. Now all 24 cakes are baked at the same time and we do not have the mess of the grease on the stove. Also, we know baking is always a healthier option than frying. The flavor in the cake and sauce is a really special treat. This becomes a win, win in my book.
Mini Crab Cakes with Crème Fraiche Horsey Sauce
- Prep Time
15 min
- Cook Time
12 min
- Total Time
30 min
- Servings
24 mini crab cakes
- Difficulty
Medium
Ingredients
Crab Cake
- 1lb lump crab meat- drained and picked clean
- 1 bunch of chives chopped
- 1 sprig dill chopped
- ¼ red onion diced small
- ¼ cup mayo
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1 tbsp capers roughly chopped
- 1 egg whisked
- 2 celery stalks diced small
- 1 tsp old bay seasoning
- ¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
- Salt and pepper
- 4 tbsp melted butter
Sauce
- 8oz Crème Fraiche
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp prepared horseradish
- ½ lemon juiced
- 1 tsp sugar
- Few dashes of hot sauce
- 1 sprig of dill finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a cupcake tin with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine all your ingredients through the salt and pepper. Mix until everything is combined well but do not over mix. You want a light fluffy cake and over-mixing will result in a much more firm and dense texture.
- Using an ice cream scooper, scoop out 2 tablespoons of your crab mixture and place in the well of your cupcake tin. I like to slightly flatten them out, so they create a nice shape. Continue until all your crab mixture is gone.
- Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until the crab cake is somewhat firm. They might not be real brown yet so do not be alarmed.
- While the crab cakes are baking, in a small bowl, I whisk together all the sauce ingredients. Set aside until ready to serve.
- After the 10 minutes, I remove the cakes from the oven and turn the broiler on. I brush the tops of the crab cakes with melted butter and return them to the oven to finish browning. Watch very closely so your cakes do not burn. I usually like to situate them in the middle of the oven. This part will only take a few minutes.
- Remove from oven and serve with a dollop of your sauce and a squeeze of some fresh lemon juice. You can even garnish them with some chives and dill.
Tips and Tricks
- run your hand through the crab meat after you drain it to ensure no shells are left. The stores do a pretty good job getting all the shells out but you always want to triple check!
- Allow the crab cakes to slightly cool and set in the cupcake tin for 5ish minutes before trying to remove them from the tin. This way you do not break the cake. I usually use a small rubber spatula to remove them.
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