that nothing is going to make chocolate sauce a health food. Extra flavourings Nigel Slater recipe chocolate sauce. Photograph: Felicity Cloake I've avoided going too far down the flavouring road, because the possibilities are near infinite and how can one choose between a sauce gently spiced with cinnamon and chilli , and one laced with peanut butter ? Hobson's choice indeed. However, three of my recipes sneak in flavourings intended to subtly enhance rather than compete with the chocolate. Nigel boldly adds a couple of tablespoons of espresso for his "luscious, not-too-sweet sauce" in Real Food. I like it -- chocolate and coffee is a combination I enjoyed long before I ever actually drank anything as grown-up as an espresso -- but it's not the sauce I'm looking for here: even in such small quantities, the coffee comes through, muddying the chocolate flavour. The Weirs add a squeeze of lemon juice, which isn't really necessary unless your sauce is as sweet as theirs, and Alice Hart a generous pinch of salt, which she urges readers not to skip, because "just a touch will balance all that sweetness". She's right: as in so many sweet things the salt, although difficult to pick out, gives her sauce a more well-rounded flavour than the other stickies. Method Bill Granger melts his chocolate and cream together in a bain marie, which seems over fussy to me: as long as you keep your heat nice and low, and an eagle eye on proceedings you shouldn't