1 day Ago By Kerrie O'Brien
A second author has accused Brisbane-based baker, cafe owner and author Brooke Bellamy of plagiarism. US-based Sally McKenney, of SallysBakeBlog, who has 1 million followers on Instagram, posted overnight alleging one of her cake recipes had been copied in Bellamy’s Bake With Brooki . Brooke Bellamy, author of Bake With Brooki.
McKenney thanked Sydney-based Nagi Maehashi, founder of RecipeTin Eats, for alerting her last year to the similarities between the two. “I’m so grateful you let me know months ago that one of my recipes (The Best Vanilla Cake I’ve Ever Had, published by me in 2019) was also plagiarised in this book and also appears on the author’s YouTube channel,” McKenney wrote. “Original recipe creators who put in the work to develop and test recipes deserve credit – especially in a bestselling cookbook.
” This masthead does not suggest the accusations of plagiarism are true, only that they have been made. Maehashi yesterday went public with allegations that Bellamy, owner of three cafes in Brisbane, copied two of her recipes in the book, which is published by Penguin. She claimed the similarities with two of her own recipes “are so specific and detailed that calling these a coincidence feels disingenuous”.
The recipes in question are the caramel slice and baklava. Bellamy strenuously denied the claims, in a story on her Instagram account. “I did not plagiarise any recipes in my book which consists of 100 recipes I have created over many years,” she wrote.
Bellamy has been contacted for further comment. Bake With Brooki was released in October last year and, according to Nielsen BookScan, sold 69,000 copies to March 2025. It is the author’s debut cookbook, and is shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) in the Illustrated Book of the Year category.
The winners will be announced in Sydney next week. ABIA has been contacted for comment. Penguin has denied the allegations, “stating (via their lawyers) ‘Our client respectfully rejects your client’s allegations and confirms that the recipes in [ Bake With Brooki ] were written by Brooke Bellamy’,” according to a post on Maehashi’s Instagram page.
Penguin has been contacted for comment. Must-see movies, interviews and all the latest from the world of film delivered to your inbox. Sign up for our Screening Room newsletter.
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