Two prominent cookbook authors have levelled allegations of recipe plagiarism against popular TikTok personality Brooke Bellamy.
Nagi Maehashi, the Australian creator behind acclaimed food website RecipeTin Eats, has asserted that several entries in Ms Bellamy’s cookbook exhibit “word-for-word similarities” to her own work.
Ms Bellamy, who owns the successful Brooki Bakehouse enterprise, has refuted the claims, maintaining that her publication features “100 recipes I have created over many years.” She contends that at least one disputed recipe pre-dates Ms Maehashi’s version.
Shortly after Ms Maehashi publicised her concerns, US-based cookbook author Sally McKenney also accused Ms Bellamy of copying her signature vanilla cake recipe.
According to Ms Maehashi, a reader alerted her to what were described as “remarkable similarities” between her caramel slice and a recipe published in Ms Bellamy’s best-selling title, Bake with Brooki.
She said she subsequently identified further parallels between her own baklava recipe and Ms Bellamy’s version, providing a side-by-side analysis on RecipeTin Eats.
Ms Maehashi, a two-time cookbook author, operates a website launched in 2014 that now attracts 45 million page views per month.
Ms Bellamy runs three Brooki Bakehouse locations across Queensland, all established in 2022. Her TikTok channel boasts a following of two million users.
Ms Maehashi reported that she has contacted Ms Bellamy’s publisher, Penguin Random House Australia, and alleges that their legal intervention felt “like legal intimidation.”
“It feels like a blatant exploitation of my work. To see them plagiarised and used in a commercially successful book, without credit or permission, does not just feel unfair,” she said.
Ms Maehashi has engaged her own legal representatives and has sent correspondence to both Ms Bellamy and Penguin.
Bake with Brooki, released in October 2024, has achieved sales of A$4.6 million (£2.1 million; $2.9 million).
Both Penguin and Ms Bellamy have strongly rebutted the allegations. The publisher affirmed that “the recipes in the BWB Book were written by Brooke Bellamy.”
While continuing to deny any wrongdoing, Ms Bellamy stated that she offered to remove the disputed recipes from subsequent printings of the book “to prevent further aggravation,” and that this was promptly communicated to Ms Maehashi.
Ms Bellamy expressed her “great respect for Nagi,” but continues to defend her work in a series of posts on Instagram.
“Recipe development today draws inspiration from fellow cooks, authors, bloggers, and creators,” she said, noting that widespread recipe sharing is one of the aspects she loves most about the baking community.
Both Ms Maehashi’s and Ms Bellamy’s titles are shortlisted for this year’s Australian Book Industry Awards.
Ms McKenney, who runs the popular website Sally’s Baking Addiction, reiterated her claim that Ms Bellamy used her vanilla cake recipe in both her cookbook and YouTube content.
“Original recipe creators who dedicate effort to developing and testing recipes deserve recognition — especially within a best-selling cookbook,” Ms McKenney wrote via Instagram.
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