We draw a comparison between the quantum density functional theory for electronic structure calculations and the ''classical'' density functional theory of molecular liquids and we show how, borrowing ideas and techniques from electronic DFT, classical DFT can be used as a useful chemist's tool to provide, at a microscopic level, the solvation properties of complex molecules in polar solvents. This includes the determination of absolute solvation free-energies, as well as three-dimensional microscopic solvation structures. The proposed strategy is as follows: we first compute the homogeneous-fluid, position and angle-dependent, direct correlation function, the c-function. To this end, we carry out extensive MD simulations of the pure solvent, and compute this way the position and angle-dependent pair distribution function (the h-function). We invert subsequently the so-called Ornstein-Zernike equation to go from the h-function to the c-function. This direct correlation can then be used as the definition of the –unknown– excess free-energy in the expression of the free-energy functional. In the presence of a given molecular solute, which provides the external potential, this functional can be minimized with respect to the position and angle-dependent density, using a 3D cartesian grid for positions and a Gauss-Legendre angular grid for orientations, to obtain, at the minimum, the absolute solvation free-energy of the solute and the equilibrium solvent density profile around it. The DFT results can be compared to direct MD simulations of the solute/solvent system or experimental data The procedure is shown to be efficient and accurate for polar solvents such as acetonitrile. [1] Rosa Ramirez, Ralph Gebauer, Michel Mareschal, and Daniel Borgis, Phys. Rev. E, 66, 031206 (2002). [2] Rosa Ramirez and Daniel Borgis, J. Phys. Chem B 109, 6754 (2005). [3] Rosa Ramirez, Michel Mareschal, and Daniel Borgis, Chem. Phys. 319, 261 (2005). [4] Lionel Gendre, PhD Thesis, Université d'Evry, July 2008. Manuscript in preparation.