diff --git a/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/gradle/plugin/JavaPluginAction.java b/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/gradle/plugin/JavaPluginAction.java
index 86515e51d7..16e1a3e98e 100644
--- a/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/gradle/plugin/JavaPluginAction.java
+++ b/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/gradle/plugin/JavaPluginAction.java
@@ -100,8 +100,8 @@ final class JavaPluginAction implements PluginApplicationAction {
 	}
 
 	private void configureUtf8Encoding(Project project) {
-		project.getTasks().withType(JavaCompile.class,
-				compile -> compile.doFirst(task -> {
+		project.afterEvaluate(
+				evaluated -> evaluated.getTasks().withType(JavaCompile.class, compile -> {
 					if (compile.getOptions().getEncoding() == null) {
 						compile.getOptions().setEncoding("UTF-8");
 					}
diff --git a/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/gradle/plugin/JavaPluginActionIntegrationTests.java b/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/gradle/plugin/JavaPluginActionIntegrationTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5ae7a016e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/gradle/plugin/JavaPluginActionIntegrationTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2012-2017 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.boot.gradle.plugin;
+
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import org.springframework.boot.gradle.testkit.GradleBuild;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+/**
+ * Integration tests for {@link WarPluginAction}.
+ *
+ * @author Andy Wilkinson
+ */
+public class JavaPluginActionIntegrationTests {
+
+	@Rule
+	public GradleBuild gradleBuild = new GradleBuild();
+
+	@Test
+	public void noBootJarTaskWithoutJavaPluginApplied() {
+		assertThat(this.gradleBuild.build("taskExists", "-PtaskName=bootJar").getOutput())
+				.contains("bootJar exists = false");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void applyingJavaPluginCreatesBootJarTask() {
+		assertThat(this.gradleBuild
+				.build("taskExists", "-PtaskName=bootJar", "-PapplyJavaPlugin")
+				.getOutput()).contains("bootJar exists = true");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void noBootRunTaskWithoutJavaPluginApplied() {
+		assertThat(this.gradleBuild.build("taskExists", "-PtaskName=bootRun").getOutput())
+				.contains("bootRun exists = false");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void applyingJavaPluginCreatesBootRunTask() {
+		assertThat(this.gradleBuild
+				.build("taskExists", "-PtaskName=bootRun", "-PapplyJavaPlugin")
+				.getOutput()).contains("bootRun exists = true");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void noBootJavaSoftwareComponentWithoutJavaPluginApplied() {
+		assertThat(this.gradleBuild.build("componentExists", "-PcomponentName=bootJava")
+				.getOutput()).contains("bootJava exists = false");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void applyingJavaPluginCreatesBootJavaSoftwareComponent() {
+		assertThat(this.gradleBuild
+				.build("componentExists", "-PcomponentName=bootJava", "-PapplyJavaPlugin")
+				.getOutput()).contains("bootJava exists = true");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void javaCompileTasksUseUtf8Encoding() {
+		assertThat(this.gradleBuild.build("javaCompileEncoding", "-PapplyJavaPlugin")
+				.getOutput()).contains("compileJava = UTF-8")
+						.contains("compileTestJava = UTF-8");
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/test/resources/org/springframework/boot/gradle/plugin/JavaPluginActionIntegrationTests.gradle b/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/test/resources/org/springframework/boot/gradle/plugin/JavaPluginActionIntegrationTests.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..20fb8832f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/test/resources/org/springframework/boot/gradle/plugin/JavaPluginActionIntegrationTests.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+buildscript {
+	dependencies {
+		classpath files(pluginClasspath.split(','))
+	}
+}
+
+apply plugin: 'org.springframework.boot'
+
+if (project.hasProperty('applyJavaPlugin')) {
+	apply plugin: 'java'
+}
+
+task('taskExists') {
+	doFirst {
+		println "$taskName exists = ${tasks.findByName(taskName) != null}"
+	}
+}
+
+task('componentExists') {
+	doFirst {
+		println "$componentName exists = ${components.findByName(componentName) != null}"
+	}
+}
+
+task('javaCompileEncoding') {
+	doFirst {
+		tasks.withType(JavaCompile) {
+			println "$name = ${options.encoding}"
+		}
+	}
+}