diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudmonitoring/resource_handler.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudmonitoring/resource_handler.go
index 038d8c7fc62..3c94b219766 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudmonitoring/resource_handler.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudmonitoring/resource_handler.go
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/andybalholm/brotli"
-	"github.com/grafana/grafana-google-sdk-go/pkg/utils"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana-plugin-sdk-go/backend/resource/httpadapter"
 )
 
@@ -27,7 +26,7 @@ type processResponse func(body []byte) ([]json.RawMessage, string, error)
 
 func (s *Service) newResourceMux() *http.ServeMux {
 	mux := http.NewServeMux()
-	mux.HandleFunc("/gceDefaultProject", getGCEDefaultProject)
+	mux.HandleFunc("/gceDefaultProject", s.getGCEDefaultProject)
 	mux.HandleFunc("/metricDescriptors/", s.handleResourceReq(cloudMonitor, processMetricDescriptors))
 	mux.HandleFunc("/services/", s.handleResourceReq(cloudMonitor, processServices))
 	mux.HandleFunc("/slo-services/", s.handleResourceReq(cloudMonitor, processSLOs))
@@ -35,13 +34,19 @@ func (s *Service) newResourceMux() *http.ServeMux {
 	return mux
 }
 
-func getGCEDefaultProject(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
-	project, err := utils.GCEDefaultProject(req.Context())
+func (s *Service) getGCEDefaultProject(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
+	project, err := s.gceDefaultProjectGetter(req.Context())
 	if err != nil {
 		writeResponse(rw, http.StatusBadRequest, fmt.Sprintf("unexpected error %v", err))
 		return
 	}
-	writeResponse(rw, http.StatusOK, project)
+
+	encoded, err := json.Marshal(project)
+	if err != nil {
+		writeResponse(rw, http.StatusBadRequest, fmt.Sprintf("error retrieving default project %v", err))
+		return
+	}
+	writeResponseBytes(rw, http.StatusOK, encoded)
 }
 
 func (s *Service) handleResourceReq(subDataSource string, responseFn processResponse) func(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudmonitoring/resource_handler_test.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudmonitoring/resource_handler_test.go
index a98674251fe..74fba70ee0e 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudmonitoring/resource_handler_test.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudmonitoring/resource_handler_test.go
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 package cloudmonitoring
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
@@ -9,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana-plugin-sdk-go/backend"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana-plugin-sdk-go/backend/instancemgmt"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
@@ -285,3 +288,23 @@ func Test_processData_functions(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_getGCEDefaultProject(t *testing.T) {
+	project := "test-project"
+	s := Service{
+		im: &fakeInstance{
+			services: map[string]datasourceService{
+				cloudMonitor: {
+					url:    routes[cloudMonitor].url,
+					client: &http.Client{},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		gceDefaultProjectGetter: func(ctx context.Context) (string, error) {
+			return project, nil
+		},
+	}
+
+	assert.HTTPSuccess(t, s.getGCEDefaultProject, "GET", "/gceDefaultProject", nil)
+	assert.HTTPBodyContains(t, s.getGCEDefaultProject, "GET", "/gceDefaultProject", nil, fmt.Sprintf("\"%v\"", project))
+}