diff --git a/cake/libs/controller/components/email.php b/cake/libs/controller/components/email.php
index 6868c21cd..1203ac20c 100644
--- a/cake/libs/controller/components/email.php
+++ b/cake/libs/controller/components/email.php
@@ -504,12 +504,16 @@ class EmailComponent extends Object{
  */
 	function __formatMessage($message) {
 		if (!empty($this->attachments)) {
-			$prefix = array(
-				'--' . $this->__boundary,
-				'Content-Type: text/plain; charset=' . $this->charset,
-				'Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit',
-				''
-			);
+			$prefix[] = '--' . $this->__boundary;
+			if ($this->sendAs === 'text') {
+				$prefix[] = 'Content-Type: text/plain; charset=' . $this->charset;
+			} elseif ($this->sendAs === 'html') {
+				$prefix[] = 'Content-Type: text/html; charset=' . $this->charset;
+			} elseif ($this->sendAs === 'both') {
+				$prefix[] = 'Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="alt-' . $this->__boundary . '"';
+			}
+			$prefix[] = 'Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit';
+			$prefix[] = '';
 			$message = array_merge($prefix, $message);
 		}
 		return $message;
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/libs/controller/components/email.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/libs/controller/components/email.test.php
index f8090cf5f..3527e7616 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/libs/controller/components/email.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/libs/controller/components/email.test.php
@@ -556,6 +556,42 @@ TEXTBLOC;
 		preg_match('/Subject: (.*)Header:/s', $this->Controller->Session->read('Message.email.message'), $matches);
 		$this->assertEqual(trim($matches[1]), $subject);
 	}
+/**
+ * undocumented function
+ *
+ * @return void
+ * @access public
+ */
+	function testSendAsIsNotIgnoredIfAttachmentsPresent() {
+		$this->Controller->EmailTest->reset();
+		$this->Controller->EmailTest->to = 'postmaster@localhost';
+		$this->Controller->EmailTest->from = 'noreply@example.com';
+		$this->Controller->EmailTest->subject = 'Attachment Test';
+		$this->Controller->EmailTest->replyTo = 'noreply@example.com';
+		$this->Controller->EmailTest->template = null;
+		$this->Controller->EmailTest->delivery = 'debug';
+		$this->Controller->EmailTest->attachments = array(__FILE__);
+		$body = '<p>This is the body of the message</p>';
+
+		$this->Controller->EmailTest->sendAs = 'html';
+		$this->assertTrue($this->Controller->EmailTest->send($body));
+		$msg = $this->Controller->Session->read('Message.email.message');
+		$this->assertNoPattern('/text\/plain/', $msg);
+		$this->assertPattern('/text\/html/', $msg);
+
+		$this->Controller->EmailTest->sendAs = 'text';
+		$this->assertTrue($this->Controller->EmailTest->send($body));
+		$msg = $this->Controller->Session->read('Message.email.message');
+		$this->assertPattern('/text\/plain/', $msg);
+		$this->assertNoPattern('/text\/html/', $msg);
+
+		$this->Controller->EmailTest->sendAs = 'both';
+		$this->assertTrue($this->Controller->EmailTest->send($body));
+		$msg = $this->Controller->Session->read('Message.email.message');
+		$this->assertNoPattern('/text\/plain/', $msg);
+		$this->assertNoPattern('/text\/html/', $msg);
+		$this->assertPattern('/multipart\/alternative/', $msg);
+	}
 /**
  * testReset method
  *