I’ve signed up for & watched a couple of the cooking freebies — specifically Dipped, Dusted & Rolled: Â Handmade Chocolates and Modern Buttercream.
Be warned — the content of the Chocolates class is good, but the teacher notes she went to a football game the day prior, screamed too much, and lost her voice.  Her voice is quite distractingly unpleasant.  But, again, the content is good.  Do read through the comments & questions for each lesson — there is a little bit of confusion re: flavoring the ganache (correct) vs flavoring the dipping chocolate (not done, leave it plain).
I’d like to try making these chocolates — as she points out, you get to eat your mistakes. Â And even if your first chocolates aren’t as pretty as hers, they should still taste delicious!
The Buttercream class was nicely presented. Â As for the Chocolates class, the content is quite good, and I think if you followed his steps carefully your cake would turn out gorgeous. Â For me, though, this just seems a bit too tricky and finicky to tackle at this point. Â I’m more of a brownies or flourless chocolate cake sort of cake baker. Â And yes, it’s my own darn fault in the past for not letting cakes cool before frosting them. Â But if you have the patience and equipment, the cake, with all its tiers and layers, is quite lovely!