Mom's Fruitcake

I know fruitcake gets a bad rap, and I admit, the one's you see in the stores don't look too good, but my mom's fruitcake is really good, so give it a try. (Mine is baking in the oven right now :-) a picture to come later. 1 pound pitted dates (optional) I leave those out because I don't really like them 1 container of candied cherries 1 container of candied pineapple chunks 1 pound chopped pecans 2 cups Splenda sweetener 1 cup flour 2 t. baking powder 1/2 t. nutmeg 4 eggs 1 t. vanilla Line an angel food tube pan with foil and coat with non-stick spray. Preheat oven to 250. Cut fruits into smaller pieces, mixed with chopped pecans. Stir in dry ingredients and mix gently but thoroughly. In a separate bowl, beat eggs with vanilla and pour over fruit mixture. Mix well until all ingredients are combined. Pack the mixture in your pan and bake for 2 hours. Top of fruitcake can be decorated be removing cake from oven after 1 hour and garnish with pecan halves, pineapples and cherry halves. After garnishing, return cake to oven to finish baking. Cool completely, preferably overnight, before removing from pan and slicing. Store in airtight container in the fridge. The cake gets better each day, and lasts a month or longer in the fridge.