diff --git a/cake/libs/cake_session.php b/cake/libs/cake_session.php
index cc7c96211..4f97ad1ce 100644
--- a/cake/libs/cake_session.php
+++ b/cake/libs/cake_session.php
@@ -417,15 +417,24 @@ class CakeSession {
  * @param string $value Value to write
  * @return boolean True if the write was successful, false if the write failed
  */
-	public static function write($name, $value) {
+	public static function write($name, $value = null) {
 		if (empty($name)) {
 			return false;
 		}
-		if (in_array($name, self::$watchKeys)) {
-			trigger_error(sprintf(__('Writing session key {%s}: %s'), $name, Debugger::exportVar($value)), E_USER_NOTICE);
+		$write = $name;
+		if (!is_array($name)) {
+			$write = array($name => $value);
 		}
-		self::__overwrite($_SESSION, Set::insert($_SESSION, $name, $value));
-		return (Set::classicExtract($_SESSION, $name) === $value);
+		foreach ($write as $key => $val) {
+			if (in_array($key, self::$watchKeys)) {
+				trigger_error(sprintf(__('Writing session key {%s}: %s'), $key, Debugger::exportVar($val)), E_USER_NOTICE);
+			}
+			self::__overwrite($_SESSION, Set::insert($_SESSION, $key, $val));
+			if (Set::classicExtract($_SESSION, $key) !== $val) {
+				return false;
+			}
+		}
+		return true;
 	}
 
 /**
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/libs/cake_session.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/libs/cake_session.test.php
index cf2531819..77d8b9b1c 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/libs/cake_session.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/libs/cake_session.test.php
@@ -148,6 +148,24 @@ class CakeSessionTest extends CakeTestCase {
 		$this->assertEqual('value', $result);
 	}
 
+/**
+ * test writing a hash of values/
+ *
+ * @return void
+ */
+	function testWriteArray() {
+		$result = TestCakeSession::write(array(
+			'one' => 1,
+			'two' => 2,
+			'three' => array('something'),
+			'null' => null
+		));
+		$this->assertTrue($result);
+		$this->assertEquals(1, TestCakeSession::read('one'));
+		$this->assertEquals(array('something'), TestCakeSession::read('three'));
+		$this->assertEquals(null, TestCakeSession::read('null'));
+	}
+
 /**
  * testId method
  *