Easy Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

5 from 1 vote

You don't even need an electric mixer -- just whisk together this easy zucchini cake in minutes!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword easy zucchini cake, old fashioned zucchini cake, zucchini cake, zucchini cake with cream cheese frosting, zucchini spice cake

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Cooling Time 3

Total Time 3 50

Servings slices

Calories 293kcal

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 small zucchini)
1 ½ cups golden raisins (or sub with chopped nuts and/or shredded coconut)
Half of a batch of Cream Cheese Frosting (or sub with a can of store-bought cream cheese frosting)

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.

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.