Cheap cake, profit low, people start to try (7-8)
I believe the answer is:
bargain basement
'cheap' is the definition.
'cake profit low people start to try' is the wordplay.
'cake' becomes 'bar' (synonyms).
'profit' becomes 'gain' (synonyms).
'low people' becomes 'basemen' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'start to' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'try' is 't'.
'bar'+'gain'+'basemen'+'t'='BARGAIN-BASEMENT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bargain basement that I've seen before include "Place for special offers" , "down here...snip!" .)