diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlAssert.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlAssert.cs
index d22e336a42..0fe52db4fe 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlAssert.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlAssert.cs
@@ -2,8 +2,12 @@
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
 
 using System;
+using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Xml;
 using System.Xml.Linq;
+using Xunit;
 using Xunit.Sdk;
 
 namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
@@ -20,30 +24,59 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
         /// <param name="actualXml">Actual xml string.</param>
         public static void Equal(string expectedXml, string actualXml)
         {
-            var sortedExpectedXDoc = SortAttributes(XDocument.Parse(expectedXml));
-            var sortedActualXDoc = SortAttributes(XDocument.Parse(actualXml));
+            var sortedExpectedXDocument = SortAttributes(XDocument.Parse(expectedXml));
+            var sortedActualXDocument = SortAttributes(XDocument.Parse(actualXml));
 
-            bool areEqual = XNode.DeepEquals(sortedExpectedXDoc, sortedActualXDoc);
+            // Since XNode's DeepEquals does not check for presence of xml declaration,
+            // check it explicitly
+            bool areEqual = EqualDeclarations(sortedExpectedXDocument.Declaration, sortedActualXDocument.Declaration);
+
+            areEqual = areEqual && XNode.DeepEquals(sortedExpectedXDocument, sortedActualXDocument);
 
             if (!areEqual)
             {
-                throw new EqualException(sortedExpectedXDoc, sortedActualXDoc);
+                throw new EqualException(
+                    sortedExpectedXDocument.ToString(SaveOptions.DisableFormatting),
+                    sortedActualXDocument.ToString(SaveOptions.DisableFormatting));
             }
         }
 
-        private static XDocument SortAttributes(XDocument doc)
+        private static bool EqualDeclarations(XDeclaration expected, XDeclaration actual)
         {
-            return new XDocument(
-                    doc.Declaration,
-                    SortAttributes(doc.Root));
+            if (expected == null && actual == null)
+            {
+                return true;
+            }
+
+            if (expected == null || actual == null)
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            // Note that this ignores 'Standalone' property comparison.
+            return string.Equals(expected.Version, actual.Version, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
+                && string.Equals(expected.Encoding, actual.Encoding, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
         }
 
-        private static XElement SortAttributes(XElement element)
+        private static XDocument SortAttributes(XDocument document)
         {
+            return new XDocument(
+                document.Declaration,
+                SortAttributes(document.Root));
+        }
+
+        private static XNode SortAttributes(XNode node)
+        {
+            XElement element = node as XElement;
+            if (element == null)
+            {
+                return node;
+            }
+
             return new XElement(
-                    element.Name,
-                    element.Attributes().OrderBy(a => a.Name.ToString()),
-                    element.Elements().Select(child => SortAttributes(child)));
+                element.Name,
+                element.Attributes().OrderBy(a => a.Name.ToString()),
+                element.Nodes().Select(child => SortAttributes(child)));
         }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlAssertTest.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlAssertTest.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6996ca49e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlAssertTest.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
+
+using System;
+using Xunit;
+using Xunit.Sdk;
+
+namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
+{
+    public class XmlAssertTest
+    {
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData("<A>hello</A>", "<A>hey</A>")]
+        [InlineData("<A><B>hello world</B></A>", "<A><B>hello world!!</B></A>")]
+        [InlineData("<a><b>hello</b><b>world</b></a>", "<a><b>hello</b><c>world</c></a>")]
+        [InlineData("<a><b>hello</b><b>world</b></a>", "<a><b>hello</b><b attribute=\"value\">world</b></a>")]
+        [InlineData("<a>hello<b>world</b>hello</a>", "<a>hello<b>world</b>goodbye</a>")]
+        [InlineData("<a><b>hello</b><b>world</b></a>", "<a><b>hello</b><b>goodbye</b></a>")]
+        public void Throws_WithMismatchedTextNodes(string input1, string input2)
+        {
+            var equalException = Assert.Throws<EqualException>(() => XmlAssert.Equal(input1, input2));
+            Assert.Equal(input1, equalException.Expected);
+            Assert.Equal(input2, equalException.Actual);
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData("<a>hello<b>world</b>hello</a>", "<a>hello<b>world</b>hello</a>")]
+        [InlineData("<a>hello<b/>hello</a>", "<a>hello<b/>hello</a>")]
+        [InlineData(
+            "<a>hello<b color=\"red\" siz=\"medium\">world</b>hello</a>",
+            "<a>hello<b siz=\"medium\" color=\"red\">world</b>hello</a>")]
+        public void ReturnsSuccessfully_WithMatchingTextNodes(string input1, string input2)
+        {
+            XmlAssert.Equal(input1, input2);
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData("<A></A>", "<A></A>")]
+        [InlineData("<A><!-- comment1 --><B></B></A>", "<A><!-- comment1 --><B></B></A>")]
+        [InlineData("<A/>", "<A/>")]
+        [InlineData("<A><![CDATA[<greeting></greeting>]]></A>", "<A><![CDATA[<greeting></greeting>]]></A>")]
+        public void ReturnsSuccessfully_WithEmptyElements(string input1, string input2)
+        {
+            XmlAssert.Equal(input1, input2);
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><A></A>",
+            "<A></A>")]
+        [InlineData("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><A></A>",
+            "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-16\"?><A></A>")]
+        public void Throws_WithMismatchedXmlDeclaration(string input1, string input2)
+        {
+            Assert.Throws<EqualException>(() => XmlAssert.Equal(input1, input2));
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public void ReturnsSuccessfully_WithMatchingXmlDeclaration_IgnoringCase()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var input1 = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>" +
+                        "<A><B color=\"red\" size=\"medium\">hello world</B></A>";
+            var input2 = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>" +
+                        "<A><B size=\"medium\" color=\"red\">hello world</B></A>";
+
+            // Act and Assert
+            XmlAssert.Equal(input1, input2);
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData(
+            "<A color=\"red\" size=\"medium\" />",
+            "<A size=\"medium\" color=\"red\" />")]
+        [InlineData(
+            "<A><B color=\"red\" size=\"medium\">hello world</B></A>",
+            "<A><B size=\"medium\" color=\"red\">hello world</B></A>")]
+        public void ReturnsSuccessfully_WithMatchingContent_IgnoringAttributeOrder(string input1, string input2)
+        {
+            XmlAssert.Equal(input1, input2);
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public void Throws_WithMismatchedAttributeValues_ReorderingAttributes()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var expected = "<A>hello<B color=\"red\" size=\"medium\">hello world</B>hi</A>";
+            var actual = "<A>hello<B size=\"Medium\" color=\"red\">hello world</B>hi</A>";
+            var exceptionMessageForExpected = "<A>hello<B color=\"red\" size=\"medium\">hello world</B>hi</A>";
+            var exceptionMessageForActual = "<A>hello<B color=\"red\" size=\"Medium\">hello world</B>hi</A>";
+
+            // Act and Assert
+            var equalException = Assert.Throws<EqualException>(() => XmlAssert.Equal(expected, actual));
+            Assert.Equal(exceptionMessageForExpected, equalException.Expected);
+            Assert.Equal(exceptionMessageForActual, equalException.Actual);
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file