diff --git a/server/src/main/java/io/druid/client/CachingQueryRunner.java b/server/src/main/java/io/druid/client/CachingQueryRunner.java
index 33f875b770f6..8ae49c71c7ba 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/io/druid/client/CachingQueryRunner.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/io/druid/client/CachingQueryRunner.java
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ListenableFuture;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ListeningExecutorService;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.MoreExecutors;
-
+import com.google.common.util.concurrent.SettableFuture;
 import io.druid.client.cache.Cache;
 import io.druid.client.cache.CacheConfig;
 import io.druid.java.util.common.guava.BaseSequence;
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Iterator;
-import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 
@@ -152,7 +151,6 @@ public void cleanup(Iterator<T> iterFromMake)
     final Collection<ListenableFuture<?>> cacheFutures = Collections.synchronizedList(Lists.<ListenableFuture<?>>newLinkedList());
     if (populateCache) {
       final Function cacheFn = strategy.prepareForCache();
-      final List<Object> cacheResults = Lists.newLinkedList();
 
       return Sequences.withEffect(
           Sequences.map(
@@ -162,17 +160,23 @@ public void cleanup(Iterator<T> iterFromMake)
                 @Override
                 public T apply(final T input)
                 {
-                  cacheFutures.add(
-                      backgroundExecutorService.submit(
-                          new Runnable()
-                          {
-                            @Override
-                            public void run()
-                            {
-                              cacheResults.add(cacheFn.apply(input));
-                            }
+                  final SettableFuture<Object> future = SettableFuture.create();
+                  cacheFutures.add(future);
+                  backgroundExecutorService.submit(
+                      new Runnable()
+                      {
+                        @Override
+                        public void run()
+                        {
+                          try {
+                            future.set(cacheFn.apply(input));
+                          }
+                          catch (Exception e) {
+                            // if there is exception, should setException to quit the caching processing
+                            future.setException(e);
                           }
-                      )
+                        }
+                      }
                   );
                   return input;
                 }
@@ -184,8 +188,7 @@ public void run()
             public void run()
             {
               try {
-                Futures.allAsList(cacheFutures).get();
-                CacheUtil.populate(cache, mapper, key, cacheResults);
+                CacheUtil.populate(cache, mapper, key, Futures.allAsList(cacheFutures).get());
               }
               catch (Exception e) {
                 log.error(e, "Error while getting future for cache task");
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/io/druid/client/CachingQueryRunnerTest.java b/server/src/test/java/io/druid/client/CachingQueryRunnerTest.java
index 5b5b53695c2b..e5b3ecd94e61 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/io/druid/client/CachingQueryRunnerTest.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/io/druid/client/CachingQueryRunnerTest.java
@@ -25,8 +25,10 @@
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterators;
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.MoreExecutors;
+import com.metamx.emitter.service.ServiceEmitter;
 import io.druid.client.cache.Cache;
 import io.druid.client.cache.CacheConfig;
+import io.druid.client.cache.CacheStats;
 import io.druid.client.cache.MapCache;
 import io.druid.granularity.QueryGranularities;
 import io.druid.jackson.DefaultObjectMapper;
@@ -56,6 +58,8 @@
 import org.joda.time.Interval;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.junit.runners.Parameterized;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -64,10 +68,21 @@
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 
+@RunWith(Parameterized.class)
 public class CachingQueryRunnerTest
 {
+  @Parameterized.Parameters(name = "numBackgroundThreads={0}")
+  public static Iterable<Object[]> constructorFeeder() throws IOException
+  {
+    return QueryRunnerTestHelper.cartesian(Arrays.asList(5, 1, 0));
+  }
 
   private static final List<AggregatorFactory> AGGS = Arrays.asList(
       new CountAggregatorFactory("rows"),
@@ -83,6 +98,17 @@ public class CachingQueryRunnerTest
       new DateTime("2011-01-09"), "a", 50, 4985, "b", 50, 4984, "c", 50, 4983
   };
 
+  private ExecutorService backgroundExecutorService;
+
+  public CachingQueryRunnerTest(int numBackgroundThreads)
+  {
+    if (numBackgroundThreads > 0) {
+      backgroundExecutorService = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(numBackgroundThreads);
+    } else {
+      backgroundExecutorService = MoreExecutors.sameThreadExecutor();
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testCloseAndPopulate() throws Exception
   {
@@ -183,7 +209,52 @@ public void after(boolean isDone, Throwable thrown) throws Exception
         }
     );
 
-    Cache cache = MapCache.create(1024 * 1024);
+    final CountDownLatch cacheMustBePutOnce = new CountDownLatch(1);
+    Cache cache = new Cache()
+    {
+      private final Map<NamedKey, byte[]> baseMap = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
+
+      @Override
+      public byte[] get(NamedKey key)
+      {
+        return baseMap.get(key);
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public void put(NamedKey key, byte[] value)
+      {
+        baseMap.put(key, value);
+        cacheMustBePutOnce.countDown();
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public Map<NamedKey, byte[]> getBulk(Iterable<NamedKey> keys)
+      {
+        return null;
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public void close(String namespace)
+      {
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public CacheStats getStats()
+      {
+        return null;
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public boolean isLocal()
+      {
+        return true;
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public void doMonitor(ServiceEmitter emitter)
+      {
+      }
+    };
 
     String segmentIdentifier = "segment";
     SegmentDescriptor segmentDescriptor = new SegmentDescriptor(new Interval("2011/2012"), "version", 0);
@@ -203,7 +274,7 @@ public Sequence run(Query query, Map responseContext)
             return resultSeq;
           }
         },
-        MoreExecutors.sameThreadExecutor(),
+        backgroundExecutorService,
         new CacheConfig()
         {
           @Override
@@ -237,6 +308,9 @@ public boolean isUseCache()
     Assert.assertTrue(closable.isClosed());
     Assert.assertEquals(expectedRes.toString(), results.toString());
 
+    // wait for background caching finish
+    // wait at most 10 seconds to fail the test to avoid block overall tests
+    Assert.assertTrue("cache must be populated", cacheMustBePutOnce.await(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
     byte[] cacheValue = cache.get(cacheKey);
     Assert.assertNotNull(cacheValue);
 
@@ -293,7 +367,7 @@ public Sequence run(Query query, Map responseContext)
             return Sequences.empty();
           }
         },
-        MoreExecutors.sameThreadExecutor(),
+        backgroundExecutorService,
         new CacheConfig()
         {
           @Override