Example

ApiTester.php

<?php 

use Faker\Factory as Faker;

abstract class ApiTester extends TestCase {

    /**
     * @var int
     */
    protected $times = 1;

    /**
     * @var Faker
     */
    protected $fake;

    /**
     * Initialize
     */
    function __construct()
    {
        $this->fake = Faker::create();
    }

    /**
     * Setup database for each test
     */
    public function setUp()
    {
        parent::setUp();

        $this->app['artisan']->call('migrate');
    }

    /**
     * Reset environment
     */
    public function tearDown()
    {
        $this->times = 1;
    }

    /**
     * Number of times to repeat DB insertion
     *
     * @param $count
     * @return $this
     */
    protected function times($count)
    {
        $this->times = $count;

        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * Get JSON output from API
     *
     * @param        $uri
     * @param string $method
     * @param array  $parameters
     * @return mixed
     */
    protected function getJson($uri, $method = 'GET', $parameters = [])
    {
        return json_decode($this->call($method, $uri, $parameters)->getContent());
    }

    /**
     * Save record to DB table
     *
     * @param       $type
     * @param array $fields
     */
    protected function make($type, array $fields = [])
    {
        while ($this->times--)
        {
            $stub = array_merge($this->getStub(), $fields);

            $type::create($stub);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Entity stub
     *
     * @return array
     */
    protected function getStub()
    {
        return [];
    }

    /**
     * Assert object has any number of attributes
     */
    protected function assertObjectHasAttributes()
    {
        $args = func_get_args();
        $object = array_shift($args);

        foreach ($args as $attribute)
        {
            $this->assertObjectHasAttribute($attribute, $object);
        }
    }

} 

example.php

<?php

class LessonsTest extends ApiTester {

    /** @test */
    public function it_fetches_lessons()
    {
        $this->make('Lesson');

        $this->getJson('api/v1/lessons');

        $this->assertResponseOk();
    }

    /** @test */
    public function it_fetches_a_single_lesson()
    {
        $this->make('Lesson');

        $lesson = $this->getJson('api/v1/lessons/1')->data;

        $this->assertResponseOk();
        $this->assertObjectHasAttributes($lesson, 'body', 'active');
    }

    /** @test */
    public function it_404s_if_a_lesson_is_not_found()
    {
        $this->getJson('api/v1/lessons/x');

        $this->assertResponseStatus(404);
    }

    /** @test */
    public function it_creates_a_new_lesson_with_valid_params()
    {
        $this->getJson('api/v1/lessons', 'POST', $this->getStub());

        $this->assertResponseStatus(201);

        // Should this process return the id of the new post?
        // Write a test for it here.
    }

    /** @test */
    public function it_throws_a_422_if_a_new_lesson_request_fails_validation()
    {
        $json = $this->getJson('api/v1/lessons', 'POST');

        $this->assertResponseStatus(422);
        $this->assertObjectHasAttributes($json, 'error');
    }

    /**
     * Get a lesson's attributes
     *
     * @return array
     */
    protected function getStub()
    {
        return [
            'title' => $this->fake->sentence,
            'body' => $this->fake->paragraph,
            'some_bool' => $this->fake->boolean
        ];
    }

}