Food writers accuse popular influencer of plagiarizing their recipes

Brooke Bellamy, pictured in Sydney, Australia, in November 2024. Brendon Thorne/Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource

Two top food writers have accused influencer and bakery owner Brooke Bellamy of plagiarizing their recipes in her bestselling book.

Nagi Maehashi, who runs the RecipeTin Eats website, and Sally McKenney, of the Sally’s Baking Addiction site, allege that several recipes in Bellamy’s book “Bake With Brooki,” which is published by Penguin Random House Australia, were copied from their own work — accusations that Bellamy, who has two million followers on TikTok, has denied.

Maehashi, author of the New York Times bestseller “RecipeTin Eats: Dinner,” who has 1.6 million followers on Instagram, set out her allegations in a post on her website Tuesday, publishing her own and Bellamy’s recipes for caramel slice and baklava side by side.

“To me, the similarities between the recipes in question are far too specific and detailed to be dismissed as coincidence,” she wrote.

“I’m speaking up because staying silent protects this kind of behaviour. Profiting from plagiarized recipes is unethical—even if it is not copyright infringement—and undermines the integrity of the entire book,” said Maehashi.

“And it’s a slap in the face to every author who puts in the hard work to create original content rather than cutting corners,” she added.

Maehashi also quoted a message from Penguin’s lawyers to her lawyer in which the company denies that the recipes were plagiarized.

‘Respectfully rejects your clients’ allegations’

“Our client respectfully rejects your clients’ allegations and confirms that the recipes in the BWB Book were written by Brooke Bellamy,” reads a statement from Penguin’s legal team quoted by Maehashi in her post.

Maehashi’s second book, “RecipeTin Eats: Tonight,” and Bellamy’s “Bake With Brooki” are both shortlisted for the illustrated book of the year prize at the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA).

CNN has contacted Maehashi and Penguin Random House Australia for comment.

McKenney backed Maehashi in a post on Instagram, where she has one million followers.

“Nagi, you know how much I admire and support you — and 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 plagiarized in this book and also appears on the author’s YouTube channel,” she wrote.

“Original recipe creators who put in the work to develop and test recipes deserve credit — especially in a best-selling cookbook,” added McKenney, who declined to offer further comment when contacted by CNN.

In response, Bellamy published a post on Instagram on Tuesday in which she said she had been making and selling her caramel slice for four years before Maehashi published her recipe on her website.

Bellamy, who runs three branches of her bakery chain Brooki Bakehouse, also released a statement sent to CNN on Wednesday in which she said the response to the allegations has been “extremely overwhelming” and “deeply distressing.”

“I do not copy other people’s recipes. Like many bakers, I draw inspiration from the classics, but the creations you see at Brooki Bakehouse reflect my own experience, taste, and passion for baking, born of countless hours of my childhood spent in my home kitchen with Mum,” the statement reads.

“While baking has leeway for creativity, much of it is a precise science and is necessarily formulaic. Many recipes are bound to share common steps and measures: if they don’t, they simply don’t work,” Bellamy added.

Maehashi acknowledged that the law around plagiarism and online content makes it hard to challenge legally.

“Copyright law protects creative expression, not facts or functional instructions. So while you can’t copyright the idea of ‘a caramel slice made without golden syrup in the filling’ copyright can protect the way a recipe is written,” she wrote.

“In practical terms, this means if someone copies enough of your words, they may be infringing your copyright. But if they just use the same ingredients and basic steps written in their own words, it’s usually not an infringement of copyright – even if it’s unethical because you have not been given credit,” Maehashi added.

By Jack Guy, CNN