A clam cake may be sweet or briny or some of both, but it rarely is very clammy. Unlike a great crab cake, which accentuates the crab and minimizes its medium, clam cakes are all about the dough. In fact, you could think of a clam cake as a doughboy with bits of chopped clam included. Common on seafood menus throughout southern New England as a necessary companion for clam chowder, clam cakes are made from a batter leavened by baking powder and perhaps including a shot of clam juice. The batter is formed into a sphere a little bigger than a golf ball and deep-fried. A clam cake may also be shaped into a flatter form, in which case it will most likely be called a clam fritter.
Clam cakes: a shore dinner staple.