Is there anyway to get a stroke around a text mesh to achieve an effect like in the picture below?

Is there anyway to get a stroke around a text mesh to achieve an effect like in the picture below?

You can duplicate the text 4 times, make the duplicates a different color, and position the duplicates slightly left/right/up/down (behind the main text), but it would be more efficient to use a bitmap font that has the stroke as part of the font.
–Eric