How to send an email in background with CakePHP?

That's it, how can I send an email in background with CakePHP, preferable using the out-of-the-box Email component?

EDIT: with in background I mean in another thread, or at least allowing the controller method to finish and send the response to the user. I want to run a function, return "OK" to the user and, after that, send an email.

If it's not possible, how could I do it using the PHP mail function? (only if it's a good approach)

Don't know if it matters, but I'm using SMTP.

Thank you in advance.

EDIT 2: I'm trying to use the CakeEmail::deliver() method, as I read from the documentation that:

Sometimes you need a quick way to fire off an email, and you don’t necessarily want do setup a bunch of configuration ahead of time. CakeEmail::deliver() is intended for that purpose.

I'm trying this:

CakeEmail::deliver('[email protected]', 'Test', 'Test',
                array('from' => '[email protected]'), true);

But the mail is not actually being sent. Anyone has any hint on that method?

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Link to original article：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12268361/how-to-send-an-email-in-background-with-cakephp