 <p>Try updating the components code in your appController to add the authenticate values to the Auth array like this:</p> <pre><code>public $components = array( 'Session', 'DebugKit.Toolbar', 'Auth' =&gt; array( 'allow' =&gt; array('login','logout'), 'loginAction' =&gt; array('controller' =&gt; 'users', 'action' =&gt; 'login'), 'loginRedirect' =&gt; array('controller' =&gt; 'dashboard', 'action' =&gt; 'index'), 'authorize' =&gt; 'Controller', 'authenticate' =&gt; array( 'Form' =&gt; array( 'fields' =&gt; array('username' =&gt; 'email') ) ) ) ); </code></pre>