diff --git a/lib/block.dart b/lib/block.dart
index 008e78519..a161f720d 100644
--- a/lib/block.dart
+++ b/lib/block.dart
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@ class BlockCache {
 /**
  * A convinience wrapper for "templates" cache.
  */
-class TemplateCache implements Cache {
+class TemplateCache implements Cache<HttpResponse> {
   Cache _cache;
 
   TemplateCache(CacheFactory $cacheFactory) {
@@ -388,7 +388,8 @@ class TemplateCache implements Cache {
   }
 
   Object get(key) => _cache.get(key);
-  Object put(key, Object value) => _cache.put(key, value);
+  put(key, HttpResponse value) => _cache.put(key, value);
+  putString(key, String value) => _cache.put(key, new HttpResponse(200, value));
   void remove(key) => _cache.remove(key);
   void removeAll() => _cache.removeAll();
   CacheInfo info() => _cache.info();
diff --git a/lib/cache.dart b/lib/cache.dart
index d360e3be2..f77444cfd 100644
--- a/lib/cache.dart
+++ b/lib/cache.dart
@@ -4,20 +4,20 @@ part of angular;
  * A simple map-backed cache.
  * TODO(pavelgj): add LRU support.
  */
-class Cache {
+class Cache<T> {
   final String _id;
   Map<String, Object> _data = <String, Object>{};
   CacheFactory _factory;
 
   Cache._newCache(String this._id, CacheFactory this._factory);
 
-  Object get(key) {
+  T get(String key) {
     _checkIfDestroyed();
     key = _stringifyKey(key);
     return _data[key];
   }
 
-  Object put(key, Object value) {
+  T put(String key, T value) {
     _checkIfDestroyed();
     if (value == null) {
       return null;
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ class Cache {
     return _data[key] = value;
   }
 
-  void remove(key) {
+  void remove(String key) {
     _checkIfDestroyed();
     key = _stringifyKey(key);
     _data.remove(key);
@@ -59,19 +59,19 @@ class Cache {
   }
 }
 
-class CacheFactory {
+class CacheFactory<T> {
   Map<String, Cache> _cacheMap = <String, Cache>{};
 
-  Cache call(String cacheId) {
+  Cache<T> call(String cacheId) {
     var cache = _cacheMap[cacheId];
     if (cache != null) {
       throw "[\$cacheFactory:iid] CacheId '$cacheId' is already taken!";
     }
-    _cacheMap[cacheId] = cache = new Cache._newCache(cacheId, this);
+    _cacheMap[cacheId] = cache = new Cache<T>._newCache(cacheId, this);
     return cache;
   }
 
-  Cache get(String cacheId) {
+  Cache<T> get(String cacheId) {
     return _cacheMap[cacheId];
   }
 
@@ -95,4 +95,4 @@ class CacheInfo {
   }
 
   String toString() => '{size: $size, id: $id}';
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/lib/http.dart b/lib/http.dart
index f9d6801c0..c3d814a2a 100644
--- a/lib/http.dart
+++ b/lib/http.dart
@@ -25,6 +25,13 @@ class HttpBackend {
         onProgress: onProgress);
 }
 
+class HttpResponse {
+  int status;
+  String responseText;
+  Map<String, String> headers;
+  HttpResponse([this.status, this.responseText, this.headers]);
+}
+
 class Http {
   Map<String, async.Future<String>> _pendingRequests = <String, async.Future<String>>{};
   UrlRewriter rewriter;
@@ -38,17 +45,17 @@ class Http {
     return request(url,
         withCredentials: withCredentials,
         onProgress: onProgress,
-        cache: cache).then((xhr) => xhr.responseText);
+        cache: cache).then((HttpResponse xhr) => xhr.responseText);
   }
 
   // TODO(deboer): The cache is keyed on the url only.  It should be keyed on
   //     (url, method, mimeType, requestHeaders, ...)
   //     Better yet, we should be using a HTTP standard cache.
-  async.Future request(String rawUrl,
+  async.Future<HttpResponse> request(String rawUrl,
       {String method, bool withCredentials, String responseType,
       String mimeType, Map<String, String> requestHeaders, sendData,
       void onProgress(dom.ProgressEvent e),
-      Cache cache}) {
+      Cache<HttpResponse> cache}) {
     String url = rewriter(rawUrl);
 
     // We return a pending request only if caching is enabled.
@@ -67,11 +74,14 @@ class Http {
         requestHeaders: requestHeaders,
         sendData: sendData,
         onProgress: onProgress).then((value) {
+      // NOTE(deboer): Missing headers.  Ask the Dart team for a sane API.
+      var response = new HttpResponse(value.status, value.responseText);
+
       if (cache != null) {
-        cache.put(url, value);
+        cache.put(url, response);
       }
       _pendingRequests.remove(url);
-      return value;
+      return response;
     }, onError: (error) {
       _pendingRequests.remove(url);
       throw error;
diff --git a/test/_http.dart b/test/_http.dart
index a6d6322df..bfafded04 100644
--- a/test/_http.dart
+++ b/test/_http.dart
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class MockHttp extends Http {
     }
     var expectedValue = data.value;
     if (cache != null) {
-      cache.put(url, expectedValue);
+      cache.put(url, new HttpResponse(200, expectedValue));
     }
     var future = new Future.value(expectedValue);
     futures.add(future);
@@ -61,13 +61,6 @@ class MockHttpFutures extends HttpFutures {
   }
 }
 
-// NOTE(deboer): If I try to extend HttpRequest, I get an error:
-// class 'MockHttpRequest' is trying to extend a native fields class, but library '_http.dart' has no native resolvers
-class MockHttpRequest /*extends HttpRequest*/ {
-  String responseText;
-  MockHttpRequest(this.responseText);
-}
-
 class MockHttpBackend extends HttpBackend {
   Map<String, MockHttpData> gets = {};
   List completersAndValues = [];
@@ -97,7 +90,7 @@ class MockHttpBackend extends HttpBackend {
     if (data.times <= 0) {
       gets.remove(url);
     }
-    var expectedValue = new MockHttpRequest(data.value);
+    var expectedValue = new HttpResponse(200, data.value);
     var completer = new Completer.sync();
     completersAndValues.add([completer, expectedValue]);
     return completer.future;
diff --git a/test/_http_spec.dart b/test/_http_spec.dart
index 301402790..3bb164cb5 100644
--- a/test/_http_spec.dart
+++ b/test/_http_spec.dart
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ main() {
       http.getString('request', cache: cache).then(expectAsync1((data) {
         expect(data).toEqual('response');
         expect(cache.info().size).toEqual(1);
-        expect(cache.get('request')).toEqual('response');
+        expect(cache.get('request').responseText).toEqual('response');
       }));
     }));
 
diff --git a/test/cache_spec.dart b/test/cache_spec.dart
index 3cead14b5..95fd8e261 100644
--- a/test/cache_spec.dart
+++ b/test/cache_spec.dart
@@ -93,19 +93,6 @@ main() => describe('CacheFactory', () {
         expect(cache.remove('non-existent')).toBeNull();
       }));
 
-
-      it('should stringify keys', inject((CacheFactory $cacheFactory) {
-        cache.put('123', 'foo');
-        cache.put(123, 'bar');
-
-        expect(cache.get('123')).toBe('bar');
-        expect(cache.info().size).toBe(1);
-
-        cache.remove(123);
-        expect(cache.info().size).toBe(0);
-      }));
-
-
       it("should return value from put", inject((CacheFactory $cacheFactory) {
         var obj = {};
         expect(cache.put('k1', obj)).toBe(obj);
diff --git a/test/http_spec.dart b/test/http_spec.dart
index 9ecb5a225..288a29cf7 100644
--- a/test/http_spec.dart
+++ b/test/http_spec.dart
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ var CACHED_VALUE = 'cached_value';
 
 
 class FakeCache implements Cache {
-  get(x) => x == 'f' ? new MockHttpRequest(CACHED_VALUE) : null;
+  get(x) => x == 'f' ? new HttpResponse(200, CACHED_VALUE) : null;
   put(_,__) => null;
 
 }
diff --git a/test/templateurl_spec.dart b/test/templateurl_spec.dart
index 4d8101e3a..2dd748e1f 100644
--- a/test/templateurl_spec.dart
+++ b/test/templateurl_spec.dart
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ main() {
       $compile(element)(injector, element);
 
       backend.flush();
+      backend.assertAllGetsCalled();
 
       expect(renderedText(element)).toEqual('@import "PREFIX:simple.css"Simple!');
       expect(element[0].nodes[0].shadowRoot.innerHtml).toEqual(