If ever you've - lazily, guiltily - bought ready peeled, sliced, cubed fruit from the supermarket and then wondered why you bothered, as you get home to discover the fruit is brightly hued but dimly flavored, this is the solution. Anything, frankly, dunked into a butterscotch sauce tastes good, and this is a fabulous everyday or even party pudding. I own up, some fruits come out of a cellophane box, the mango ready cubed, the melon ready sliced, but mostly I make this for the children using bananas and pears I have actually managed to peel and slice myself. The strawberries you don't even need to hull: Their stalks are useful to lower the berries into the molton fondue. I give everyone - here just the two of us - a little cup of fondue for their own individual dipping. It does mean you make more sauce than is needed, but gets around the shared spit and saliva issue. Or you could make half the amount and pour over a cubed mix of pineapple, papaya, mango. Either way, you don't want the butterscotch fondue too fiercely hot, not least because it will be too runny. If you make it before you sit down to eat altogether, it should be just about perfect by the time you reach pudding. I am also pretty keen on this cold, spooned straight from the cup. You could subsitute dark corn syrup for the golden syrup, but I'm afraid it doesn't have the viscosity or flavor. Since you can now get Lyle's Golden Syrup sent to you from Amazon Gourmet, I don't feel bad recommending the less familiar ingredient.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons light muscovado sugar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup golden syrup
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Splash vanilla extract
• About 2 1/2 cups cut fruit

Directions