Brooki Bakehouse owner Brooke Bellamy announces new Brisbane and Gold Coast stores alongside international pop-up in UAE

7NEWS

3 days ago

Celebrity baker Brooke Bellamy has announced a string of new stores following plagiarism allegations earlier this year.
The Brisbane -based cookie influencer is set to open two new stores in Queensland next month, as well as a new international pop-up store.
The new stores in Queensland will be located at Pacific Fair shopping centre in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast and at Westfield Garden City in Upper Mt Gravatt.
The international pop-up will open in the UAE by the end of the year, following other successful pop-ups in the Middle East.
accused Brooke Bellamy, who founded Brooki Bakehouse, of reproducing recipes from the RecipeTin Eats website and other authors in her book Bake With Brooki.
Sally McKenney, the baker behind Sally's Baking Addiction, also accused Bellamy of copying a recipe.
Bellamy and Penguin Random House Australia, which published the book, denied the allegations.
'This is a story about a multimillion-dollar cookbook by a social media influencer, published by a blue-chip publisher, featuring numerous recipes that, in my opinion, are plagiarised, given the detailed and extensive word-for-word similarities to mine and those of other authors,' Maehashi said at the time.
Bellamy addressed the controversy on Saturday, announcing she was ready to get back to her bakery.
'I've never experienced something like I have over the last few weeks,' she told her two million supporters on TikTok.
'When I was invited to make a cookbook, I was really excited to share all the recipes I've been making since I was small.'
Bellamy said while she had been inspired and influenced by bakeries and bakers the world over, her biggest inspiration was her mother, who taught her how to cook and bake.
'These recipes have been written down on paper, handed to me by friends and family, they get passed down by generations, they get scaled up and scaled down in the bakery settings.
'While all of these recipes are personal to me, I cannot say that I have invented the cookies, cupcakes, brownies, or cakes in the recipe book.
'They are all inspired from somewhere and someone before me.'
Brooki Bakehouse's celebrated its third birthday on Saturday at their Valley location in Brisbane, with people lining up in the early hours of the morning for free cookies and to snap a picture with Bellamy.
There are no known legal proceedings against Bellamy at this time.