diff --git a/IPython/config/application.py b/IPython/config/application.py
index 59a21e5..f9e94ee 100644
--- a/IPython/config/application.py
+++ b/IPython/config/application.py
@@ -133,6 +133,9 @@ class Application(SingletonConfigurable):
             self.log_level = new
         self.log.setLevel(new)
     
+    log_format = Unicode("[%(name)s] %(message)s", config=True,
+        help="The Logging format template",
+    )
     log = Instance(logging.Logger)
     def _log_default(self):
         """Start logging for this application.
@@ -149,7 +152,7 @@ class Application(SingletonConfigurable):
             _log_handler = logging.StreamHandler(open(os.devnull, 'w'))
         else:
             _log_handler = logging.StreamHandler()
-        _log_formatter = logging.Formatter("[%(name)s] %(message)s")
+        _log_formatter = logging.Formatter(self.log_format)
         _log_handler.setFormatter(_log_formatter)
         log.addHandler(_log_handler)
         return log
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py b/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py
index 32b6d98..071a06d 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py
@@ -102,6 +102,10 @@ class BaseParallelApplication(BaseIPythonApplication):
     def _log_level_default(self):
         # temporarily override default_log_level to INFO
         return logging.INFO
+    
+    def _log_format_default(self):
+        """override default log format to include time"""
+        return u"%(asctime)s.%(msecs).03d [%(name)s] %(message)s"
 
     work_dir = Unicode(os.getcwdu(), config=True,
         help='Set the working dir for the process.'
@@ -182,7 +186,7 @@ class BaseParallelApplication(BaseIPythonApplication):
         else:
             self._log_handler = self.log.handlers[0]
         # Add timestamps to log format:
-        self._log_formatter = logging.Formatter("%(asctime)s.%(msecs).03d [%(name)s] %(message)s",
+        self._log_formatter = logging.Formatter(self.log_format,
                                                 datefmt="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
         self._log_handler.setFormatter(self._log_formatter)
         # do not propagate log messages to root logger