Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 13x9-inch baking pan with baking spray with flour or grease well with butter and flour.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract.
Add the sugar mixture to the flour mixture. Whisk or stir just until combined; do not overmix. Stir in zucchini and raisins.
Spread the batter in the prepared pan.
Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before frosting.
Spread the cream cheese frosting on the cool cake. Garnish with chopped nuts or shredded coconut, if desired. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (to allow the frosting to set) before slicing and serving.
Notes
Grease or spray the pan really well with non-stick spray so that the cake doesn’t stick. I like to use a baking spray with flour in it. If making a layer cake, grease the pans and line with parchment paper, then grease the parchment paper.
For a single-layer zucchini spice cake, you only need to prepare half of a batch of cream cheese frosting.
Use full-fat block-style cream cheese for the frosting. The cream cheese frosting will be thin and runny if you substitute with low fat cream cheese or cream cheese spread from a tub.
Optional Mix-Ins: I've shown this cake with golden raisins mixed in, but you can omit any extra mix-ins, or use nuts, shredded coconut, chocolate chips, or a combination of these.
Sift the powdered sugar to avoid any lumps in your frosting.
Garnish the cake withchopped pecans or sprinkle with shredded coconut.