diff --git a/nbconvert/preprocessors/execute.py b/nbconvert/preprocessors/execute.py
index 77eea43c7..94d71cc81 100644
--- a/nbconvert/preprocessors/execute.py
+++ b/nbconvert/preprocessors/execute.py
@@ -391,3 +391,25 @@ def run_cell(self, cell, cell_index=0):
             outs.append(out)
 
         return outs
+
+
+def executenb(nb, cwd=None, **kwargs):
+    """Execute a notebook's code, updating outputs within the notebook object.
+    
+    This is a convenient wrapper around ExecutePreprocessor. It returns the
+    modified notebook object.
+    
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    nb : NotebookNode
+      The notebook object to be executed
+    cwd : str, optional
+      If supplied, the kernel will run in this directory
+    kwargs :
+      Any other options for ExecutePreprocessor, e.g. timeout, kernel_name
+    """
+    resources = {}
+    if cwd is not None:
+        resources['metadata'] = {'path': cwd}
+    ep = ExecutePreprocessor(**kwargs)
+    return ep.preprocess(nb, resources)[0]
diff --git a/nbconvert/preprocessors/tests/test_execute.py b/nbconvert/preprocessors/tests/test_execute.py
index 8f0779f42..244ab38b9 100644
--- a/nbconvert/preprocessors/tests/test_execute.py
+++ b/nbconvert/preprocessors/tests/test_execute.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 import sys
 
 from .base import PreprocessorTestsBase
-from ..execute import ExecutePreprocessor, CellExecutionError
+from ..execute import ExecutePreprocessor, CellExecutionError, executenb
 
 from nbconvert.filters import strip_ansi
 from nose.tools import assert_raises, assert_in
@@ -222,3 +222,14 @@ def test_custom_kernel_manager(self):
         for method, call_count in expected:
             self.assertNotEqual(call_count, 0, '{} was called'.format(method))
 
+    def test_execute_function(self):
+        # Test the executenb() convenience API
+        current_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+        filename = os.path.join(current_dir, 'files', 'HelloWorld.ipynb')
+
+        with io.open(filename) as f:
+            input_nb = nbformat.read(f, 4)
+
+        original = copy.deepcopy(input_nb)
+        executed = executenb(original, os.path.dirname(filename))
+        self.assert_notebooks_equal(original, executed)