Brooke Bellamy reveals she's been inundated with support as she opens two new bakeries amid plagiarism row: 'Everyone in Queensland is rallying behind me'
The embattled baker, who was accused of plagiarising her recipes, is opening two new bakeries on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane 's Mt Gravatt.
She thanked Queenslanders for having her back as she pushes forward with her career despite the controversy, revealing that she has been inundated with messages of support.
'Everyone in Queensland, especially, and Tasmania (where I grew up) is really rallying behind me and saying, "We just want you to keep going"' the cookbook author told the Courier Mail on Thursday.
'I have worked really, really hard to build this brand and I'm not going to stop doing that and I have a responsibility to the 30 team members that I employ to show up every day and keep going'.
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Bellamy revealed her plans for expansion on Sunday while celebrating the three year anniversary of running Brooki Bakehouse.
She has also revealed she is expecting her second child.
The bakehouse already has three locations and is 'about to open their fourth and fifth locations'.
'It's kind of crazy how much has happened over the past three years,' Bellamy said in an Instagram video.
'And if you haven't heard the news already I'm excited to say that a second baby Brooki is on the way.'
The baking influencer returned to social media on Saturday following a brief hiatus after two high-profile chefs argued her bestselling cookbook Bake with Brooki contained their recipes.
Bellamy admitted in her comeback post she did not 'invent' the recipes in her cookbook, clarifying she had been 'inspired from somewhere and someone'.
'Since opening my bakery three years ago and sharing my life online, I've never had such a long break between videos,' she said in the video.
'But I've also never experienced something like I have over the last few weeks.'
RecipeTin Eats founder Nagi Maehashi sparked an internet frenzy in April when she went public on her world famous blog with claims her caramel slice and Baklava recipes had been stolen for use in the book.
The video posted on Saturday showed Bellamy as she returned to her Fortitude Valley bakery in Brisbane's inner-city before dawn and slipped on her iconic pink 'Brooki' apron.
The high-profile baker admitted that while each of the 100 recipes in the book were 'personal' to her, they each drew on existing recipes in some way for inspiration.
'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,' she said.
Bellamy said she had been influenced by creators across the world but said her mother remained her main inspiration.
'I have been so inspired by bakeries and bakers the world over but the biggest inspiration in my life is my mum because I learnt to cook and bake with her in the kitchen growing up,' she said.
Penguin Australia and Bellamy have denied the allegations since Bellamy first tackled Maehashi's claims head-on on April 29.
Bake With Brooki was published by Penguin in October last year and retails for $49.99.
'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,' she wrote.
'On March 2020, RecipeTin Eats published a recipe for caramel slice. It uses the same ingredients as my recipe, which I have been making and selling since four years prior.'
The following day, on April 30, Bellamy again denied copying the recipes but suggested all baker's share common methods.
'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,' she said.
'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.'
Maehashi is not the only baker to have levelled plagiarism claims against Bellamy.
Hours after Maehashi went public with her claims, American baker and author Sally McKenny claimed her own vanilla cake recipe had also been stolen for use in the cookbook as well as on Bellamy's YouTube channel.
'Original recipe creators who put in the work to develop and test recipes deserve credit - especially in a best-selling cookbook,' McKenny wrote.
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