in their recipes but, as Bill doesn't specify a variety (so laid-back, these Aussies) I ring the changes and give double cream a whirl in his. This proves to be a mistake -- the sauce is far too rich to spoon over ice cream, although it is rather toothsome straight from the bowl. The whipping cream gives a lighter result, but although I like the way it balances the flavour of the chocolate, I'm going to use less than either recipe suggests. Chocolate sauce is always best served with something creamy, so it shouldn't be too rich on its own. The sugar Strictly speaking, you don't need any extra sweetener in chocolate sauce, and some of the recipes I try certainly go too far down the syrup road for my liking (the Weirs' sauce, for example, contains 165g sugar to 100g chocolate and 1 tbsp cocoa powder). But although my tastes aren't quite as childish as once they were, I do think this sauce deserves to be a little more fun than the no-added sugar recipes from Bill, Nigel, Simon and Lindsey. Inspired by Alice Hart, rather than adding straight sugar I'm going to use golden syrup: it adds a pleasant toffeeish sweetness and just a hint of joyous stickiness. Lebovitz suggests using corn, agave or glucose syrup "to give it a shine", but I prefer the flavour of the classic British sweetener despite the low-GI claims of the agave syrup I use in his recipe. I have a feeling