Almost one year on, Brooki Bakehouse founder Brooke Bellamy has spoken out RecipeTin Eats founder Nagi Maehashi accused her of allegedly plagiarising two of her recipes.
In late April 2025, Brooke denied Nagi’s claims that she had copied her caramel slice and baklava recipes in her book, Bake with Brooki.
Throughout the feud, the Brisbane baker stayed relatively silent and even offered to remove the recipes from future reprints.
Speaking to Erika De Pellegrin on The Balance Theory Podcast, Brooke spoke about the toll it has taken on her and said she has finally come to “peace” with it all.
“I think I’ve come to peace with the terms that on the internet people can say whatever they want about you, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true,” she said.
“And I think it’s hard because, as a human being, your integrity is everything that you have.
“So when someone questions that, and gets into the comment section and people get quite nasty, you can really take it on board.”
She went on to reveal why she chose not to add fuel to the fire.
The business owner revealed that she was also three months pregnant at the time and chose to focus on her and her baby’s health.
“But I think you really have to sit there and think, well, am I the sum of my actions and not my words?” she continued.
“So in that moment, I chose very deliberately not to react and not to add to this narrative of she said she said, and pitting two women against each other.
“That’s not something I ever want to be about. And I’ve never been about that. So I just have to stand true to who I am in that moment.
“Everyone around me knows the truth and knows me, and you can immediately give that response of like no. But no is a full sentence as well.
“So I think I learned very publicly who I was in that moment, and your parents are a really good phone call to make to understand what’s going on and kind of the bigger picture of things, but I was very intentional in that moment.”
What were the allegations against Brooke Bellamy?
Nagi accused Brooke of copying two of her recipes in her book, which Brooke firmly denied.
At the time, Nagi provided side-by-side screenshots comparing the measurements, wording, and dates the two recipes were published.
According to the screenshots, Nagi’s caramel slice and baklava recipes were published in 2020 and 2018, and Brooke’s book was published in late 2024.
The RecipeTin Eats founder also revealed on her Instagram stories that she was in back-and-forth contact with Brooke and Penguin, who published the book.
“I have nothing to gain out of speaking up, except that I believe it’s the right thing to do. I do not want their money. I didn’t even ask for reimbursement of legal fees,” she said in a statement at the time.
“Reminder: I did not make the statement lightly and without doing serious groundwork.”
In response, the Brooki Bakehouse founder posted a series of Instagram stories and said that Nagi’s recipe did not appear online until 2020.
“I have been creating my recipes and selling them commercially since October 2016,” she wrote in a statement.
“I did not plagiarise any recipes in my book, which consists of 100 recipes I have created over many years, since falling in love with baking as a child and growing up baking with my mum in our home.”
However, Nagi shared a screenshot on her Instagram stories, which revealed that it was archived in April 2016.
While she was frustrated, she took to Instagram to urge people to stop harassing Brooke in the wake of the controversy.
“I made the statement knowing that it would come with a barrage of hate against me, and social media did not let me down,” she wrote on Instagram on May 1.
“But I’m asking you to stop the personal attacks against Brooke Bellamy. That’s not the way to speak your mind and that’s not the kind of support I want.
“Please keep it respectful 🙏🏻 – N x.”
