diff --git a/lib/coffee-script/cake.js b/lib/coffee-script/cake.js
index 353563bc..40984f0c 100644
--- a/lib/coffee-script/cake.js
+++ b/lib/coffee-script/cake.js
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@
   });
   exports.run = function() {
     var arg, args, _i, _len, _ref, _results;
-    process.chdir(cakefileDirectory(fs.realpathSync('.')));
+    global.__originalDirname = fs.realpathSync('.');
+    process.chdir(cakefileDirectory(__originalDirname));
     args = process.argv.slice(2);
     CoffeeScript.run(fs.readFileSync('Cakefile').toString(), {
       filename: 'Cakefile'
diff --git a/src/cake.coffee b/src/cake.coffee
index 9fc31b86..be5e71a9 100644
--- a/src/cake.coffee
+++ b/src/cake.coffee
@@ -39,12 +39,13 @@ helpers.extend global,
     missingTask name unless tasks[name]
     tasks[name].action options
 
-
 # Run `cake`. Executes all of the tasks you pass, in order. Note that Node's
 # asynchrony may cause tasks to execute in a different order than you'd expect.
-# If no tasks are passed, print the help screen.
+# If no tasks are passed, print the help screen. Keep a reference to the 
+# original directory name, when running Cake tasks from subdirectories. 
 exports.run = ->
-  process.chdir cakefileDirectory fs.realpathSync '.'
+  global.__originalDirname = fs.realpathSync '.'
+  process.chdir cakefileDirectory __originalDirname
   args = process.argv.slice 2
   CoffeeScript.run fs.readFileSync('Cakefile').toString(), filename: 'Cakefile'
   oparse = new optparse.OptionParser switches