diff --git a/cake/libs/debugger.php b/cake/libs/debugger.php
index 30c44d398..b35eb7c27 100644
--- a/cake/libs/debugger.php
+++ b/cake/libs/debugger.php
@@ -112,6 +112,22 @@ class Debugger extends Object {
 		$_this = Debugger::getInstance();
 		pr($_this->exportVar($var));
 	}
+/**
+ *  neatly logs a given var
+*/
+	function log($var, $level = 7) {
+		$_this = Debugger::getInstance();
+		$trace = $_this->trace(array('start' => 1, 'depth' => 2, 'format' => 'array'));
+		$source = null;
+
+		if (is_object($trace[0]['object']) && isset($trace[0]['object']->_reporter->_test_stack)) {
+			$stack = $trace[0]['object']->_reporter->_test_stack;
+			$source = "[". $stack[0].", ". $stack[2] ."::" . $stack[3] ."()]\n";
+		}
+
+		CakeLog::write($level, $source . $_this->exportVar($var));
+	}
+
 /**
  * Overrides PHP's default error handling
  *
@@ -255,6 +271,8 @@ class Debugger extends Object {
 				$back[] = array('file' => $trace['file'], 'line' => $trace['line']);
 			} elseif (empty($options['format'])) {
 				$back[] = $function . ' - ' . Debugger::trimPath($trace['file']) . ', line ' . $trace['line'];
+			} else {
+				$back[] = $trace;
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -438,7 +456,7 @@ class Debugger extends Object {
 
 		$files = $_this->trace(array('start' => 2, 'format' => 'points'));
 		$listing = $_this->excerpt($files[0]['file'], $files[0]['line'] - 1, 1);
-		$trace = $_this->trace(array('start' => 2));
+		$trace = $_this->trace(array('start' => 2, 'depth' => '20'));
 		$context = array();
 
 		foreach ((array)$kontext as $var => $value) {
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/libs/debugger.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/libs/debugger.test.php
index f5170090d..d6089f1bd 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/libs/debugger.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/libs/debugger.test.php
@@ -177,5 +177,33 @@ TestManager::runTestCase() - CORE/cake/tests/lib/test_manager.php, line 93
 		$this->assertEqual($result, $expected);
 	}
 
+	function testLog() {
+		if (file_exists(LOGS . 'debug.log')) {
+			unlink(LOGS . 'debug.log');
+		}
+
+		Debugger::log('cool');
+		$result = file_get_contents(LOGS . 'debug.log');
+		$this->assertPattern('/DebuggerTest::testLog/', $result);
+		$this->assertPattern('/"cool"/', $result);
+
+		unlink(TMP . 'logs' . DS . 'debug.log');
+
+		Debugger::log(array('whatever', 'here'));
+		$result = file_get_contents(TMP . 'logs' . DS . 'debug.log');
+
+		$this->assertPattern('/DebuggerTest::testLog/', $result);
+		$this->assertPattern('/array/', $result);
+		$this->assertPattern('/"whatever",/', $result);
+		$this->assertPattern('/"here"/', $result);
+	}
+
+	function setUp() {
+		Configure::write('log', false);
+	}
+	function tearDown() {
+		Configure::write('log', true);
+	}
+
 }
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file