diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/index.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/index.ts
index b2c38ab506..4bc60f557f 100644
--- a/packages/backend-common/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/index.ts
@@ -17,3 +17,4 @@
 export * from './errors';
 export * from './logging';
 export * from './middleware';
+export * from './testing';
diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/testing/MockedMemberFunctions.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/testing/MockedMemberFunctions.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9b35908bff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/testing/MockedMemberFunctions.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 Spotify AB
+ *
+ * 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.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * For any type T, generate a new type that is identical but also has the
+ * jest.fn signature on all member functions.
+ *
+ * When writing tests against a type, you sometimes end up in a situation where
+ * you need to write expect(x.y as jest.Mock).toHaveBeenCalled... because the
+ * x.y member was considered to be the actual function type. You could also
+ * change your test to instead create a "raw" object { y: jest.fn() } but then
+ * you lose type safety when doing x.y.mockReturnValue(...). So you start
+ * trying to do { y: jest.fn() as X['y'] } as X or similar trickery.
+ *
+ * This type lets you say const x: MockedMemberFunctions<X> = { y: jest.fn() }
+ * and keep all the type safety at every step.
+ */
+export type MockedMemberFunctions<T> = {
+  [K in keyof T]: T[K] extends (...args: infer A) => infer B
+    ? T[K] & jest.Mock<B, A>
+    : T[K];
+};
diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/testing/index.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/testing/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c12297465b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/testing/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 Spotify AB
+ *
+ * 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.
+ */
+
+export type { MockedMemberFunctions } from './MockedMemberFunctions';
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.test.ts
index d897584c95..c5101dff7a 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.test.ts
@@ -14,20 +14,31 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
+import type { MockedMemberFunctions } from '@backstage/backend-common';
 import type { Entity, EntityPolicy } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
 import type { Database } from '../database';
 import { DatabaseEntitiesCatalog } from './DatabaseEntitiesCatalog';
 
 describe('DatabaseEntitiesCatalog', () => {
-  let db: Database;
+  let db: MockedMemberFunctions<Database>;
   let policy: EntityPolicy;
 
   beforeEach(() => {
-    // Since the database has a large API surface, we just leave it empty and
-    // let the tests insert whatever methods they need to call
-    db = ({
-      transaction: jest.fn(async f => f('mock_tx')),
-    } as unknown) as Database;
+    db = {
+      transaction: jest.fn(),
+      addEntity: jest.fn(),
+      updateEntity: jest.fn(),
+      entities: jest.fn(),
+      entity: jest.fn(),
+      removeEntity: jest.fn(),
+      addLocation: jest.fn(),
+      removeLocation: jest.fn(),
+      location: jest.fn(),
+      locations: jest.fn(),
+      locationHistory: jest.fn(),
+      addLocationUpdateLogEvent: jest.fn(),
+    };
+    db.transaction.mockImplementation(async f => f('tx'));
     policy = { enforce: jest.fn(async x => x) };
   });
 
@@ -42,8 +53,8 @@ describe('DatabaseEntitiesCatalog', () => {
         },
       };
 
-      db.entities = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue([]);
-      db.addEntity = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ entity });
+      db.entities.mockResolvedValue([]);
+      db.addEntity.mockResolvedValue({ entity });
 
       const catalog = new DatabaseEntitiesCatalog(db, policy);
       const result = await catalog.addOrUpdateEntity(entity);
@@ -65,8 +76,8 @@ describe('DatabaseEntitiesCatalog', () => {
         },
       };
 
-      db.entities = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue([]);
-      db.updateEntity = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ entity });
+      db.entities.mockResolvedValue([]);
+      db.updateEntity.mockResolvedValue({ entity });
 
       const catalog = new DatabaseEntitiesCatalog(db, policy);
       const result = await catalog.addOrUpdateEntity(entity);
@@ -95,8 +106,8 @@ describe('DatabaseEntitiesCatalog', () => {
         },
       };
 
-      db.entities = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue([{ entity: existing }]);
-      db.updateEntity = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ entity: added });
+      db.entities.mockResolvedValue([{ entity: existing }]);
+      db.updateEntity.mockResolvedValue({ entity: added });
 
       const catalog = new DatabaseEntitiesCatalog(db, policy);
       const result = await catalog.addOrUpdateEntity(added);