diff --git a/spec/asciidoc_handler_spec.rb b/spec/asciidoc_handler_spec.rb
index bef2cb91..82361c73 100644
--- a/spec/asciidoc_handler_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/asciidoc_handler_spec.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 require 'rspec/matchers.rb'
 
 verify = lambda { |output|
-  output.gsub(/(^\s*\n|^\s*)/, '').should =~ %r(<div id="preamble">
+  # clean whitespace to make comparison easier
+  output.gsub(/(^\s*\n|^\s*|\s*$)/, '').should == %(<div id="preamble">
 <div class="sectionbody">
 <div class="paragraph">
 <p>This is <strong>AsciiDoc</strong> in Awestruct.</p>
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@
   page.title.should == 'AsciiDoc'
   page.doctitle.should == 'AsciiDoc'
   page.name.should == 'Awestruct'
+  page.layout.should == 'haml-layout'
   page.tags.should be_a_kind_of(Array)
   page.tags.should == %w(a b c)
   page.date.should be_a_kind_of(Date)
@@ -69,7 +71,7 @@
   ]
 
 describe Awestruct::Handlers::AsciidoctorHandler do
-  let(:additional_config_page) { {:name => 'Awestruct', :test => 10} }
+  let(:additional_config_page) { {:name => 'Awestruct', :test => 10, :layout => 'empty-layout'} }
   it_should_behave_like "a handler", theories
 
 end
diff --git a/spec/support/shared_handler_example.rb b/spec/support/shared_handler_example.rb
index 291c130d..dfcb9102 100644
--- a/spec/support/shared_handler_example.rb
+++ b/spec/support/shared_handler_example.rb
@@ -79,8 +79,7 @@ def create_handler(page)
         it "should render page '#{theory[:page]}'" do
           if theory[:unless].nil? or !theory[:unless][:exp].call()
             handler = create_handler theory[:page]
-            handler.merge! additional_config_page if respond_to?("additional_config_page")
-
+            handler.update(additional_config_page) {|k, oldval, newval| oldval } if respond_to?("additional_config_page")
             output = handler.rendered_content( handler.create_context )
             output.should_not be_nil
 
diff --git a/spec/test-data/handlers/asciidoctor_with_headers.ad b/spec/test-data/handlers/asciidoctor_with_headers.ad
index f9f1ca21..53f6e9b5 100644
--- a/spec/test-data/handlers/asciidoctor_with_headers.ad
+++ b/spec/test-data/handlers/asciidoctor_with_headers.ad
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 Stuart Rackham
 2013-02-06
 :awestruct-tags: [a, b, c]
+:awestruct-layout: haml-layout
 :name: NOT_HANDLED
 
 This is *AsciiDoc* in {name}.
-{awestruct-version}
\ No newline at end of file
+{awestruct-version}
diff --git a/spec/test-data/handlers/empty-layout.haml b/spec/test-data/handlers/empty-layout.haml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7125c22c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/test-data/handlers/empty-layout.haml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+=content