diff --git a/lib/cartodb/controllers/named_maps.js b/lib/cartodb/controllers/named_maps.js
index 1ea98843..b0ba0278 100644
--- a/lib/cartodb/controllers/named_maps.js
+++ b/lib/cartodb/controllers/named_maps.js
@@ -315,23 +315,22 @@ NamedMapsController.prototype.instantiateTemplate = function(req, res, template_
         },
         function prepareResponse(err, layergroup) {
             if ( err ) {
-                throw err;
+                return callback(err, { errors: [''+err] });
             }
             var tplhash = self.templateMaps.fingerPrint(template).substring(0,8);
             layergroup.layergroupid = cdbuser + '@' + tplhash + '@' + layergroup.layergroupid;
 
             self.surrogateKeysCache.tag(res, new NamedMapsCacheEntry(cdbuser, template.name));
 
-            return layergroup;
-        },
-        callback
+            callback(null, layergroup);
+        }
     );
 };
 
 NamedMapsController.prototype.finish_instantiation = function(err, response, res) {
     if (err) {
         var statusCode = 400;
-        response = { error: ''+err };
+        response = { errors: [''+err] };
         if ( ! _.isUndefined(err.http_status) ) {
             statusCode = err.http_status;
         }
@@ -346,7 +345,7 @@ function finishFn(app, res, description, okResponse) {
         var statusCode = 200;
         if (err) {
             statusCode = 400;
-            response = { error: '' + err };
+            response = { errors: ['' + err] };
             if ( ! _.isUndefined(err.http_status) ) {
                 statusCode = err.http_status;
             }