diff --git a/lib/date_format.js b/lib/date_format.js
index 3b34f42..6bed145 100644
--- a/lib/date_format.js
+++ b/lib/date_format.js
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ exports.asString = function(/*format,*/ date, timezoneOffset) {
   }
   // make the date independent of the system timezone by working with UTC
   if (timezoneOffset === undefined) {
-      timezoneOffset = date.getTimezoneOffset();
+    timezoneOffset = date.getTimezoneOffset();
   }
   date.setUTCMinutes(date.getUTCMinutes() - timezoneOffset);
   var vDay = addZero(date.getUTCDate());
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ exports.asString = function(/*format,*/ date, timezoneOffset) {
   var vSecond = addZero(date.getUTCSeconds());
   var vMillisecond = padWithZeros(date.getUTCMilliseconds(), 3);
   var vTimeZone = offset(timezoneOffset);
+  date.setUTCMinutes(date.getUTCMinutes() + timezoneOffset);
   var formatted = format
     .replace(/dd/g, vDay)
     .replace(/MM/g, vMonth)
diff --git a/lib/layouts.js b/lib/layouts.js
index 86deb9b..8e7e8a2 100644
--- a/lib/layouts.js
+++ b/lib/layouts.js
@@ -140,11 +140,12 @@ function messagePassThroughLayout (loggingEvent) {
  * Takes a pattern string, array of tokens and returns a layout function.
  * @param {String} Log format pattern String
  * @param {object} map object of different tokens
+ * @param {number} timezone offset in minutes
  * @return {Function}
  * @author Stephan Strittmatter
  * @author Jan Schmidle
  */
-function patternLayout (pattern, tokens) {
+function patternLayout (pattern, tokens, timezoneOffset) {
   var TTCC_CONVERSION_PATTERN  = "%r %p %c - %m%n";
   var regex = /%(-?[0-9]+)?(\.?[0-9]+)?([\[\]cdhmnprzxy%])(\{([^\}]+)\})?|([^%]+)/;
   
@@ -178,7 +179,7 @@ function patternLayout (pattern, tokens) {
       }
     }
     // Format the date
-    return dateFormat.asString(format, loggingEvent.startTime);
+    return dateFormat.asString(format, loggingEvent.startTime, timezoneOffset);
   }
   
   function hostname() {
@@ -198,7 +199,7 @@ function patternLayout (pattern, tokens) {
   }
 
   function startTime(loggingEvent) {
-    return "" + loggingEvent.startTime.toLocaleTimeString();
+    return dateFormat.asString('hh:mm:ss', loggingEvent.startTime, timezoneOffset);
   }
 
   function startColour(loggingEvent) {
diff --git a/test/date_format-test.js b/test/date_format-test.js
index 6085843..04adb08 100644
--- a/test/date_format-test.js
+++ b/test/date_format-test.js
@@ -3,11 +3,13 @@ var vows = require('vows')
 , assert = require('assert')
 , dateFormat = require('../lib/date_format');
 
+function createFixedDate() {
+  return new Date(2010, 0, 11, 14, 31, 30, 5);
+}
+
 vows.describe('date_format').addBatch({
   'Date extensions': {
-    topic: function() {
-      return new Date(2010, 0, 11, 14, 31, 30, 5);
-    },
+    topic: createFixedDate,
     'should format a date as string using a pattern': function(date) {
       assert.equal(
         dateFormat.asString(dateFormat.DATETIME_FORMAT, date),
@@ -20,13 +22,16 @@ vows.describe('date_format').addBatch({
         '2010-01-11 14:31:30.005'
       );
     },
-    'should provide a ISO8601 with timezone offset format': function(date) {
+    'should provide a ISO8601 with timezone offset format': function() {
+      var date = createFixedDate();
+      date.setMinutes(date.getMinutes() - date.getTimezoneOffset() - 660);
       date.getTimezoneOffset = function() { return -660; };
       assert.equal(
         dateFormat.asString(dateFormat.ISO8601_WITH_TZ_OFFSET_FORMAT, date),
         "2010-01-11T14:31:30+1100"
       );
-
+      date = createFixedDate();
+      date.setMinutes(date.getMinutes() - date.getTimezoneOffset() + 120);
       date.getTimezoneOffset = function() { return 120; };
       assert.equal(
         dateFormat.asString(dateFormat.ISO8601_WITH_TZ_OFFSET_FORMAT, date),
@@ -40,7 +45,9 @@ vows.describe('date_format').addBatch({
         '14:31:30.005'
       );
     },
-    'should provide a custom format': function(date) {
+    'should provide a custom format': function() {
+      var date = createFixedDate();
+      date.setMinutes(date.getMinutes() - date.getTimezoneOffset() + 120);
       date.getTimezoneOffset = function() { return 120; };
       assert.equal(
         dateFormat.asString("O.SSS.ss.mm.hh.dd.MM.yy", date),
diff --git a/test/layouts-test.js b/test/layouts-test.js
index 01c777e..2b5baf9 100644
--- a/test/layouts-test.js
+++ b/test/layouts-test.js
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ vows.describe('log4js layouts').addBatch({
     topic: function() {
       var event = {
         data: ['this is a test'],
-        startTime: new Date(2010, 11, 5, 14, 18, 30, 45),
+        startTime: new Date('2010-12-05T14:18:30.045Z'), //new Date(2010, 11, 5, 14, 18, 30, 45),
         categoryName: "multiple.levels.of.tests",
         level: {
           toString: function() { return "DEBUG"; }